Born to Protect
by OffTopic.Writer
Summary: Celsius was abandoned by his mother in order to avoid being killed. When his foster-father working for secret service finds out the IceWing Royal Family is in danger, particularly Princess Glacier, Celsius is assigned to secretly protect her, but he gets more than what he asks for. [Glacier x OC]. Modern AU. (Cover not by me) [STORY CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers! You might know me for being the author of Not Always Alone. Now, I am writing another WoF fanfiction, which is going to help me to stay on track and be more active writing. This will be written in Third Person Limited (if you know what that means). Enjoy the Prologue and I will see soon,**

 **Zmike6**

 **Prologue**

An IceWing was flying across the frozen wasteland, the wind blowing against her. Flapping her wings to go faster, she began to go more tired as her killer drew nearer. She had to hurry, before the worst happened to her.

As her hopes died to find a safe haven, she saw the border from Ice Kingdom to the Kingdom of Sand. Her heart filled with pure joy and relief, but it was short lived, knowing that her time was close to being done. She urged her wings to keep her aloft, but they were disobeying her. It didn't matter anymore, because she was close to her safe haven, away from death and despair. She was close to the forest, and close to her companion.

The IceWing clutched her egg as the they flew into the hot, dry desert. She needed to keep her egg healthy, until she reached her destination. Soon after she passed the border, she turned slightly left to get to forest of the Mud Kingdom. As she neared, pain enter her wings, making her gasp in agony, but she needed to focus on getting her egg to safety.

Beating her wings more, the pain turned sharper and larger as she continued on in the night sky. No other dragons would be out tonight, she was sure of it. As she gazed off in the distance, she heard shouting from behind her.

They were close.

Panicked, the IceWing sped up on her flight speed and soon enough, dive bombed into the forest. She was met by the green vegetation, which let her pass into their domain. Gasping for breath, she lied down for a moment, her egg in her clutches. As she rested, her mind screamed at her to keep moving, knowing that she could die at any moment. She stood up, but her legs wobbled and her wings were sore: she wouldn't be able to fly again until tomorrow. She silently cursed as she managed her way into the lush green environment, looking for a settlement that she would recognize.

Cutting small branches and removing bushes, she looked around for her safe haven. Her claws printed their tracks into the damp mud, but she didn't care, she didn't have time before they would be on to her. As she continued on, she spotted a wooden cabin in the corner of her eye, making her blue orbs light up. This was it; this was the place where her son would be safe. She bolted for the cabin and swiftly landed on the porch leading to the front door.

Rapidly knocking on it, she impatiently waited for the resident to open the door, which came a few seconds later. The owner of the cabin was an NightWing, a handsome one at that. His silver eyes looked at her with concern as his wings ruffled unsettling. He looked quite surprised to see the IceWing in front of him, carrying her egg.

"Snowstorm?" the NightWing asked. "Shouldn't you be at the IceWing hatchery?"

"There's no time to explain, Nightchaser," Snowstorm responded. "They're on to me and are going to kill me. I need you to take care of my egg. Please." She begged the last part as she held out her egg, which had a small crack in it. Both dragons looked at it in fear, and Snowstorm thought she cracked it. Her thought on that soon vanished as the egg shook, erupting another crack into the egg. "They'll kill him, too, if you don't take him. The Queen will send out guards in a few days to find me when I she finds out I'm not at my post, but by then I'll be killed." She then began to leave the cabin, and into the darkness on the night.

"Snow," Nightchaser began, receiving a sorrowful look from the IceWing. "I'll protect you and your egg, this house is animus enchanted to only be seen by friends and trusted ones. Please stay, your child needs you."

"I'm sorry," the IceWing choked, "but it's best if I leave and never come back. It will be safer for him."

"I will not let you go to your death!"

"You don't understand! They'll kill you, too, if they find out you're helping me! Then no one will be able to take care of him!" She shouted, nodding at her egg as she approached the NightWing once more, before gazing back at her egg. The egg shook and more cracks formed in the shell, before a small, white head popped out. The hatchling squeaked, making Snowstorm tear up in joy and sadness.

"My beautiful dragonet," she whispered to the hatchling, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at the NightWing, who had a look of pity all over his face. "He will be named Celsius, please take care of him and raise him like an IceWing warrior." The baby IceWing squeaked, blinking at his mother.

"I promise," the NightWing promised, still holding the egg to Snowstorm. "Please Snowstorm, don't do this. I'll make this place impossible to find."

"No, this is the only way. I have to do this," the IceWing responded, tears now flowing like miniature rivers. She took off her necklace with seven circles, and handed it to the Nightchaser. "Please give him this to remember me by." She looked at her dragonet, who just gazed into her eyes. "Mommy has to go, baby." The hatchling just blinked at her and tilted his head, before giving out another squeak. "Goodbye, my little Celsius."

With that, she departed, sobbing mournfully with having to leave her only child she barely got to meet. Her heart ached to being with her son, but she knew it would be too dangerous. As she walked away, she heard the mournful squeaks on her son wanting to be with her. She paused and turned back, gazing at the hatchling and the NightWing one last time, before walking back to her death. She let the tears fall and the sorrow fill her. This was the only way for her son to live.

The baby IceWing just looked at her mother, squeaking loudly and mournfully, wanting her to come back. The NightWing who was holding him gazed at her, too. Before walking inside, with the hatchling close to his chest. Celsius started to cry, a sorrowful, heartbreaking cry.

Nightchaser gazed at the dragonet with a full wave of pity, before talking low with his eyes closed. A golden light came from his chest, and a room of the cabin started to form icicles in it. Snow came down from the ceiling and the bed became ice. The temperature of the room went below freezing.

The NightWing then walked into the room and placed the baby IceWing on the bed, before closing the door after him. The dragonet face was full of tears, and his thoughts were only on his mother leaving him. Closing his eyes, Celsius began to drift asleep, only before murmuring one word:

"Mommy?"

 **The end of the Prologue! This made my eyes water, considering this is the most depressing thing I ever typed. I hope you guys will enjoy this and I will see you soon.**

 **Zmike6**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello guys, I just want to say that I will be alternating my writing and typing between my stories to keep them updated. I hope you enjoy. This is based off a show on the CBS Channel: NCIS. Go check it out, I'm watching it right now.**

 **Chapter 1**

 **9 years later... (Estimate about 16 in human years).**

 **(Celsius)**

Celsius never thought that he would ever have to defend himself from an attacker. He always thought that there would be dragons that would do it for him. That he would always be protected, no matter how dangerous the situation is.

Apparently, life is full of surprises.

Celsius spun to his right just to barely avoid a spear being impaled in his stomach. After he dodged the attack, the IceWing then grabbed his attackers main strike arm, and twisted. The attacker grunted, but kicked Celsius in the abdomen, and he was forced to let go. Celsius managed to get back in his defensive stance, and both of the fighters circled each other. Each one looked at the other for any flaws in the position they were in as they continued to slowly walk around their battlefield.

Eventually, Celsius's attacker lunged at him and jabbed in his spear towards his heart. The IceWing quickly parried the blow with his knife and threw a punch at the head of his enemy. The attacker blocked it, and they soon were in a graceful battle of life and death. Both of the opponents exchanged swings by blocking and striking to match the other's.

Celsius felt his blood pump through his body and his sweat run down his face. He was in a warm environment, meaning that he couldn't operate too well in these hot conditions. Although he longed for the cold weather, he has never been into the IceWing Kingdom boundary. His foster-father, Nighechaser, told him that it was too dangerous for him to cross it, which the IceWing didn't believe.

As the continued to exchanged blows, the attacker swung his tail across at Celsius's back legs, making him collapse onto the ground, the attacked then jumped on him and leveled his spear to his face.

"I win! Finally," the dragon announced triumphantly. He had a proud look on his face and he brought his spear closer to Celsius's head.

"I wouldn't say that," Celsius responded, now having a pistol aimed at the attacker's heart. When Celsius was younger, Nightchaser always told him to carry a back up weapon in case of bad situations, and this was one of them.

"C'mon Celsius," his opponent whined. "Do you always have to do that."

"Yes," he responded. "I guess that's another tie, for the millionth time in row, that is. You got to get better at anticipating that move, Jupiter."

Jupiter was a NightWing with light grey scales on his underbelly and horns, with dark scales surrounding them. He had alert grey eyes that always scanned around the room for threats and a quiet run, making it impossible to hear him in a full out sprint. The NightWing always had a cheery mood, making everyone else light up in joy whenever they passed him. He was Celsius's best friend at the secret agency, known as the Talons of Peace. Being the only other dragon his age that worked as a agent, they got spend lots of time together training in the combat arena. They worked on different fighting styles and were dominate against the other agents, but could never seem to beat each other.

Jupiter held out his hand to Celsius, who took it without hesistation and the NightWing lifted him up. Celsius nodded in gratitude, before he put his pistol back in his holster and his knife back in his sheath on his belt. Jupiter stretched out his arms, legs, and wings as Celsius packed his equipment in his bag. They soon made their way off the arena and back to the main office, where they did intelligence work on known criminals.

The Talons had many other agents, but the NightWing/IceWing duo always seemed to get the work done more efficiently and quickly than the other agents. They faced many threats together and continued to stay in top physical condition so they could stay on top of their enemies.

As they made their way to their desks, a SandWing stood in front of them with a grin on his face.

"Great to see you guys made it," their boss, Scorch, announced. "Training again?"

"Got to stay ahead of the enemy, sir," Jupiter replied, walking to his desk.

"That's good to know," Scorch told us, before looking around their section of the room. "Anyone have a lead?"

"Not yet, boss," a SeaWing called back, and Scorch nodded, disappointed. Then, the SeaWing jumped up in the air, alerted. "I got a lead. Our MudWing murderer had traces of chlorine on his talon print. Also, there was footage of him entering the chemical plant by the Diamond Spray Delta."

"Cel, Jupiter, go check it out," Scorch ordered them, and they both nodded, before rushing out to the exit. They ran past multiple dragons, there claws tapping on the floor and their tails raised up to avoid colliding with other co-workers. Soon, they were out of the building and into the air, beating their wings towards the facility at the Delta.

 **(Time skip)**

The sound of their wings beating made Celsius comfortable, reminding him of the many different missions he and Jupiter did. He thought about the time where they got into a big firefight with three weapon dealers, which the won, but his friend ended in the hospital for a few weeks.

As they continued to fly, Jupiter started talking about his life outside his work. "So my girlfriend and I are going on a date tonight. We're going to a fancy restaurant tonight, and to her's after dinner. I have a feeling she might do more than chat." Jupiter grinned at him, but got no response from the IceWing. "Cel?"

The NightWing looked closer at his friend, concerned, then realized why Celsius wasn't talking. He was looking at the necklace with the seven circles: his only memory of his mother. Celsius focused on it as he flew and closed his eyes.

The only thing he could recall of his mother was when she was walking away, and he didn't know why. Nightchaser wouldn't tell him either, which frustrated Celsius. As he continued to look stare at his relic, he didn't notice Jupiter looking at him with a pitifying look. After a few moments, he finally looked back at the NightWing, who just stared at the necklace.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Celsius," Jupiter apologized, hanging his head.

"No. No, it's alright," Celsius blurted back, then put the necklace back around his neck. "We need to focus on the mission." Jupiter nodded and flapped his wings to catch up with Celsius. The duo soon spotted the facility, and went into a nose dive. They plummeted towards the ground, before Jupiter opened his wings to catch the wind, Celsius following his lead. They landed on the ground, talons softly touching the grass.

Celsius hand-signaled the NightWing to move up on the facility, rushing up towards the building. Jupiter pulled his M9 handgun as Celsius pulled out his Glock 17. The moved soon made there way onto the area surrounding the compound.

There facility had multiple silos, possibly containing dangerous chemicals that could be made into explosives. Celsius looked at Jupiter, who nodded: they were possibly dealing with a terrorist. On the front side of the building, was the main entrance, followed by four guards and a metal detector used for finding weapons. There were containers in the courtyard, with a group of dragons lifting and moving them with forklifts. On the right of the building was an ramp entrance, most likely for moving the containers inside the building.

As the two dragons approached, a SkyWing came out of the ramp entrance. Celsius and Jupiter moved up, guns raised, causing the SkyWing to look at them with panic and confusion.

"Get out of here!" Celsius ordered the worker, who complied without any questions. "And warn the others!" The SkyWing then bolted to the workers in the storage grounds, and many them evacuated the facility. "Let's move in."

Jupiter nodded, and the duo moved up the ramp and went on either side of the double doorway. Celsius nodded to Jupiter, and he opened the door, it's wide ark revealing the inside of the facility. Dragons were rushing to different rooms, some carrying items with them.

Celsius moved in first, gun raised, followed by his friend. The moved into the building, receiving shocked and scared expressions from the workers. They both scanned the hallway, dragons frozen in fear and confusion, wondering if they were going to be killed or taken hostage. Then, Celsius saw his target: a MudWing that was staring right at them, his look surprised.

He bolted.

"Talons of Peace! Stop!" Jupiter yelled as the two rushed after him. The dragons working there moved themselves to the walls to avoid colliding with the agents.

The MudWing was inflicting havoc in the building; knocking over other boxes in the hallway and pushing dragons out of the way. As the two agents followed after him, Celsius saw him go into the storage room, the doors closing after him. The duo made their way to the door, guns ready for any threats to them. Celsius silently counted to the three, and Jupiter moved in front of the door and kicked it open.

The two dragons moved into the room, gun raised, pointing around the room for the MudWing. As they slowly moved towards cover, Celsius's phone went off. He cursed silently, realizing that they could've blown up their cover. The IceWing took his phone and answered the call. "Celsius."

"Agent Celsius," it was Scorch, who had a serious tone, meaning that something important just came to him. "We need you back at headquarters."

"What? Why?" Celsius asked, oblivious to the MudWing peeking out from behind a few boxes. The MudWing scanned the two agents, before jumping out, revealing himself having a M1911. He fired two rounds, startling the IceWing.

And hitting him in the shoulder.

Celsius collapsed to the ground with a yell of agony. Jupiter fired round after round at the MudWing, hitting him in the chest, then the head, etc. The MudWing jerked back, before falling to the ground, and would never get up again.

"Celsius!" Jupiter yelled, panicked. He rushed over to the IceWing, who was groaning pain. Celsius rested his hand on the wound, then took his hand to see how bad it was. His hand was covered in his blue, icy blood. "Hold on!"

Jupiter took out his phone and dialed three numbers. He put the phone to his ear, waiting for a response. "I have a wounded dragon who was shot in the shoulder. I need a medical team at Diamond Spray Delta Facility immediately." The NightWing looked at his friend in anxiety and fear. "Don't worry, help is on the way."

"P-put pressure o-on the w-wound," Celsius gasped, clutching his shoulder. Jupiter immediately put his claws on Celsius's shoulders. As he applied pressure, Celsius groaned in pain, before his vision started to fade black.

"Stay with me, IceWing!" Jupiter ordered to Celsius, which was the last thing he heard before his vision went black.

 **(A few hours later)**

Celsius felt very comfortable went he woke up, which he thought was weird. All he remembered after being shot in the shoulder was lying on the cold stone floor. Celsius leaned up, only to groan in pain, which was less then it was before he passed out. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, finally realizing that he was in the hospital. There were windows connected the hallway and room together, and he saw his friend looking through one.

Celsius motioned him to come in, and he did just that. Jupiter sighed a relief when he got next to the bed, most likely happy that his friend wasn't dead.

"That bullet when clean through your shoulder, but it didn't hit anything major," the NightWing told Celsius, who nodded in relief. He would be back on the field, fighting crime again. "But you're not going back on the field."

My mind exploded at the news. "What? Are they letting me go? I'm one of their best agents!"

"Exactly." A new voice, followed by another dragon, entered the room. It was Scorch, followed by a SkyWing known as Wind, Scorch's boss. "Jupiter doesn't mean it in that way, Celsius. There was a reason why I called you, even though you were on that mission." Scorch stepped out of the way for the SkyWing to loom over him. Celsius wasn't really comfortable with this, and the SkyWing knew it as well, but didn't bother to move back.

"Celsius, you have been assigned to the Ice Kingdon," Wind announced. "Your task is to protect the Royal Family, but mainly the heir to the throne, Princess Glacier. You will go undercover to keep an eye on them."

The IceWing froze in surprise. Celsius has never been to the kingdom, mostly because his foster-father banned him from ever going within a mile of the border.

"This will be your life: an IceWing student at the IceWing academy. We have a client ready to give you your residence. From there, when you meet the head of the school, and say you live outside the walls as a seventh circle student. They will want proof, and you will show your mother's necklace. From there your job will be to protect the family at all times."

"Wait? Did you say school? Does this mean I have to do homework?" Celsius was mainly worried about this. He already went through his time through hell to get into the agency.

"Sadly, yes, but you are the only agent that can get this close to the princess. Now, you will leave tomorrow at dawn, now that the doctors say your wound has healed enough over a week." Celsius sighed sadly, now having to do homework, even though he wasn't not going to be a student for long. As the director of the agency walked out, a sudden thought came to his head.

"Director." The SkyWing turned her head to stare at the IceWing. "What am I suppose to protect the family against."

"There are insurgents within the kingdom, wanting a change within the rule. They want a king to lead the IceWings, so they will try to assassinate the Queen and the heirs. Don't worry about weapons though, we already have them at your house. You will be their as long as it takes to bring those rebels down. Understand?" I nodded. "Get some rest agent, you will need it."

Celsius lied down on the bed as he heard the sounds of talons tap against the floor, getting quieter as the dragons left the room.

"Celsius," he looked up to see Jupiter by the door. "I guess it's going to be a long time before we see each other again."

"I guess so," he responded to the NightWing. "But don't worry about me, I can handle myself."

"I know you can, but good luck," Jupiter started out the door, then turned back to the IceWing one last time. "And be careful."

Celsius stared as the ceiling as the door closed after Jupiter. Darkness ruled over the room, covering any light that used to be in the room. The beep of the heart rate monitor went through the room, reassuring Celsius that he still alive. As his eye lids started to cover his eyes, his heart filled with anxiety that he was going to see the place where he should've lived.

He was going to see the place where his mother lived.

 **Done with chapter, sorry it's not longer, but I been seeing family a lot lately on vacation. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and I will see you in the next one. Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello readers! I hope you will enjoy this story, because I, myself, have a very good feeling about how the plot will unfold. If you like violence, guns, suspense, and anything like that, you will enjoy it, too. Anyways, let's move onto the chapter.**

 **Celsius**

Celsius was in a rush of panic.

His shoulder was sore from the bullet that entered it. He remembered the excessive amount of pain, too; it wasn't a fun thing to experience, that's for sure.

Second, this took him away from his packing. He was currently at NightChaser's house, grabbing his belongings. Celsius's anxiety continued to overwhelm him: it was going to be the first time he would see the IceWing kingdom. It was always a long time dream of his to see the amazing structures of the metropolis, and also the palace. He tapped his talons rapidly on his desk as he looked at the items he was bringing. He was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice his step-father enter the room.

"Celsius?" NightChaser called from the doorway. The IceWing whirled around to meet the NightWing's stare.

"Oh, hey father," Celsius replied as he went back to thinking if he had everything for the long vacation. "I was wondering if I should bring an extra knife, a Karambit perhaps."

Celsius asked him this because of NightChaser's knowledge of weapons. In fact, Celsius's step-father got him into the training and the love and skill of using weapons. The NightWing had Celsius trained in several fighting since he was two: just a little dragonet. Celsius had asked why he had his training at such a young age, and he simply responded hat it was his mother's wish for the IceWing.

Celsius waited for an answer, but never received one. Confused, Celsius turned back to meet NightChaser's stare, and he understood what was going on. "Father?" The IceWing's father had a joyful look on his face, but he also had a depressed one. "What's wrong?"

The NightWing looked at Celsius, his face sinking. "You're assignment," he finally managed to say, "I'm glad you're going back to you're tribe, but it's just that, it's going to be lonely here without you." At these words, Celsius understood what was going on.

"Oh," Celsius said. "Well, you know it's not going to be the last time." He tried to cheer his foster father up, but he looked down at the floor and shook his head.

"I know," he stepped into the room and walked to the IceWing's bed. It was made of ice, but it didn't melt in the warm weather, because of NightChaser's magic. On the bed, was Snowstorm's seventh circle necklace, on top of Celsius's bag. "But it's going to be the last time for a while," he announced. "The agency called me, it's time for you to go." He took the necklace in his claws as Celsius stood up and grabbed his bag. The next thing the IceWing did was come up to his father and hug him.

"I'm going to miss you," Celsius told the NightWing, his voice cracking a little. NightChaser tightened his grasp around Celsius as the IceWing set his head on NightChaser's shoulder. The NightWing had tears form up in his eyes as he pulled away and placed his claws on Celsius's shoulders.

"I will too," NightChaser responded. "And yes, take the Karambit, it can be a life saver." They both let out of a hearty laugh as the NightWing put the necklace in his palm. The next thing Celsius knew, NightChaser was putting the necklace around the IceWing's neck. "Good luck." NightChaser then started out of the room, but Celsius finally had the courage as he remembered his final question.

"How did she die."

"Huh?" NightChaser turned around to stare at Celsius in confusion. Celsius placed his talons on his mother's necklace as he asked again.

"How did my mother die?" NightChaser paused, before going back into the room and taking a seat on the freezing, ice bed. Celsius took a seat next to him and looked at the ground.

"That's what I forgot to tell you. Good thing you asked me this," the NightWing spoke softly, as he looked at the ceiling. The temperature in the room felt like it was getting cooler, which made Celsius feel uncomfortable.

"What were you going to tell?"

"If hopefully, and if, your mother was still alive, maybe you could find her." Celsius absorbed this hard and slowly. He felt the emotion of shock overtake him.

"What?"

"I never saw your mother die, all she did was leave you with me and disappear before my eyes," NightChaser explained, trying to make sense, but Celsius was feeling frustration in through him.

"So you mean that you let my mother go to her death," Celsius felt his claws clench together and his calm spirit vanish. "You let her leave!"

"That's not what happen!" the NightWing protested. "I tried to stop her!"

"You should've tried harder!"

"Do you really think I would've let her go by herself," NightChaser demanded. "You're the reason why I didn't go with her!"

Celsius froze at the statement, paralyzed at what he just said. The noise of the world began to fade as his thoughts ruled over his body. _What does he mean by that? Does that mean I got my mother killed? Am I the reason why I'll never see her again?_ Celsius grabbed his bag and got up from the bed, marching out of the bedroom.

"Celsius?" NightChaser got up from the bed and went after him. "Celsius! Wait!"

"Why should I!" the IceWing shot back. They were now outside, arguing while the animals of nature listening and felt each dragon's anger and frustration go through Pyrrhia. "Apparently, I'm the reason why my mother is dead. So why should I listen to you when you're going to tell me things that should make me feel even more guilty!"

"She wanted you to be safe!" NightChaser blurted. "She didn't want you dragged you into this! She gave you to me so you wouldn't be killed by her enemies!"

"Who were her enemies," Celsius demanded. "Who are the ones responsible for our separation."

NightChaser gazed at the ground, mentally going through if he should tell him the information or not, but finally decided to. "A group of insurgents targeting the royal family. She found out about it, so the insurgents couldn't keep her alive. That's why she ran."

"Wouldn't my father know about this? Is he still in Ice Kingdom?"

"No, he died in the line of duty," the NightWing shook his head, looking down. "Since he died, you mother was the only one who trusted me."

"How did she know you?" Celsius was curious about this, considering NightWings and IceWings weren't exactly on good terms.

"It was through your father," NightChaser explained. "They both got the same patrol and found me. I was wounded in the leg and unable to walk and fly for quite some time. The IceWings were taking prisoners and executing them to try to make the NightWings surrender, so I was a goner if I was caught. It must've been a miracle, because your parents decided to help me back to my border."

"That means they both were committing treason."

NightChaser nodded. "No one ever found out, and to repay them for my gratitude, I told them they could come to me whenever they had a problem. I told them I was an animus." Celsius already knew this, he has for the past few years. He remembered how shocked he was when he found out. "Since then, we've been best friends."

"Thanks for the story, but I have to get going," Celsius opened up his white, pale wings, but he felt a claw grab his shoulder. He turned his head back to see his foster-father holding out a photograph to him. "What this?"

"You can find that out," the NightWing responded, and Celsius accepted the photo without hesistation and gazed at it. The background of the photo was a beautiful blue sky, with a few trees dotting the area. In the middle of the photo were two IceWings, looking at each other's eyes with an emotion Celsius has rarely seen. It was a love, not a cheesy love on a television, it was a real, compassionate love.

On the left was a beautiful IceWing dragoness, one of the most beautiful Celsius has ever seen. The sun was shining off her scales, making her look ten times more beautiful than before and a violet orange flower was placed on her right ear. On the right of the IceWing dragoness, was a muscular IceWing dragon with a toothy smile on his face. His look radiated joy and love towards the dragoness as his wing covered her body. They both wore the necklace with seven circles.

"My parents?"

NightChaser nodded and smiled. "They would want you to have it, so maybe the photo can help find your mother." Celsius's snout formed a smile, and he gave the NightWing another hug.

"Thank you," Celsius told NightChaser. "Thanks for keeping me alive."

"Don't worry, I'm also the one who set up the whole operation," NightChaser finally said. "I want you to have as much fun as possible in Ice Kingdom." Celsius nodded and gave him one last hug. Celsius felt his step-father's not tears splat against his cool scales. After a few seconds, they separated and Celsius took off, and headed to his destination.

"One more thing." Celsius turned around as he flapped his wings to stay in the air. "I enchanted your knife's blade to not dull, no matter what kind of treatment it takes." Celsius nodded in gratitude and set off again.

As he began his wonderful adventure, Celsius started to remember all the wonderful times with NightChaser. He remembered when he did combat training with him in the basement of the house. He remembered the time when they both went out into the woods, and then the his younger self got the fever. He grinned at the memory. _Don't worry step-dad, I'll come back to you. But for now,_

 _I finally see my real home._

 **(* * *)**

Celsius felt the temperature drop into a more comfortable degree. He was used to being in the warm weather, which made him able to adapt to any region, except the SandWing Kingdom, which was still too hot for him to handle.

Celsius looked at his map as he crossed the border into IceWing Kingdom; he needed to find the place to meet his associate. Taking one last check on the map, he put in back in his bag and flapped his wings to gain higher altitude. His blue orbs scanned across the terrain.

It was a vast, empty tundra, making it easy to spot any dragon that was not an IceWing, unless it's a NightWing at night. The tundra stretched so far, that it went out of his vision. There were rocks and divets occasionally, but no sign of vegetation anywhere. Celsius slumped back, disappointed; he liked the taste of fruit, and he was not happy without that comfort.

"I guess I better start adapting to eating only meat," the IceWing told himself. He continued to fly until he saw his destination: the cliff that was barely in his view. The young IceWing beat his wings as he shot forwards toward the giant rock formation. He felt his wings cut through the air as his speed continued to get faster. In a matter of minutes, he was there, standing on the cliff, looking for his objective.

"Well, if it isn't the famous Celsius," a voice came from behind the IceWing. Celsius immediately responded by grabbing his karambit, spinning the blade through his talons, and having the knife lightly pressed against the strangers neck. His eyes looked at the amused face of an IceWing, fitting in the picture of what the director had said.

It was Frigid, Celsius's informant.

"I would be happier if you didn't slit my throat," the older IceWing said with a grin. "Also, you have a very smooth movement."

"Thanks," Celsius responded, looking to either side of him to make sure they weren't being watched. "Okay, I'm here. Now what?"

"Let's not rush," Frigid told Celsius firmly. "We should enjoy the view while we have it."

"You mean the barren, frozen wasteland with a cliff in the middle of it," Celsius managed without laughing or smirking.

"It's not just any cliff, it's the protective wall against any outside tribe of dragons," Frigid informed the younger IceWing. "It was made thousands of years ago by a Royal IceWing animus as a gift to the tribe. It was designed to defend from any invasion. Now, it's no use, considering no other tribe can survive this far north."

"The animus should've thought of that," Celsius joked, looking at his knife, failing to notice the disappointed look on Frigid's snout. "What?"

"Respect the artifacts, please," the older IceWing ordered, and Celsius nodded in understanding. "Now let's head off to the city." Frigid took off into the air with Celsius behind him. The two IceWings beat their wings in unison as they made their way North. As the flew, Celsius was being given more information about his operation.

"You will be a student at the Advanced IceWing Academy, which is meant to challenge the young IceWing generation and put them at their post in life," Frigid explained. "You will be an IceWing starting in the seventh circle, but you will not have your necklace on, I'm sorry for that." Celsius's expression turned serious as he was told more things about this. "Your assignment is to monitor and protect Queen Aurora, but more importantly, her daughter, Princess Glacier." Celsius nodded in understanding as Frigid continued to ramble on.

"You will be on alert for any IceWing insurgent that tries to assassinate either of the two. If an attempt happens, you have permission to kill the assassin. The next thing to that is to not be discovered by the Queen or the Princess. If you do, then I suspect things will get bloody and messy. It would be a shame to see you dismembered."

"You're saying they could tear me apart!" Celsius felt worry go through his body as he thought of himself being in several pieces.

"Oh, that's only if you're lucky," Frigid patted Celsius on the back. "You could be alive when it happens." Celsius shuddered at the picture that had and has been permanently imprinted in his mind.

"I'm just going to say it this once, but that's pretty fucked up **(Yes, I used the F-Bomb, deal with it)** ," Celsius announced. They continued to fly as the sun went down and the moon came up.

 **(* * *)**

Frigid turned on the lights to Celsius's new homestead: a decent sized house outside of the city. It's first appearence made Celsius nod in approval, but it was the basement that made him gawk it amazement, which only happened once: when he found out his step-father was an animus.

They walked downstairs to the basement, which had each wall holding a good amount of weapons. From a small pistol to a assault rifle, it was enough to equip a small army.

"Woah," Celsius breathed in astonishment. "How did the agency afford all this."

"They didn't," Frigid immediately responded, which made Celsius stare at him in confusion. "These are you father's, all of them."

"You mean-"

"Each and every one of them is licensed to your biological father, Celsius," the older IceWing informed. "We did a background check on him. Apparently your father's family was in the gun making business. They created each and every gun, included a few prototypes in this basement."

"I got a whole arsenal to work with," Celsius breathed as he took a Mark 11 off the wall, aiming it at the wall. "But they're going to need a little work. They look old and probably need to be prepared."

"Your parents wills have you inheriting their money, it's already in the safe behind the Honey Badger," Frigid announced, walking up the stairs.

"But, how?"

"Did I mention I was a lawyer? The numbers to open the safe are on a sticky note on the damn thing. Those things are impossible to open." Celsius laughed at the last part, knowing what Frigid meant by that. He used to have a hard time opening a safe, but now if he can't open it, the young IceWing just shoots it with a pistol. "Now, go get some sleep. You got school tomorrow." Being a quiet, muffled voice, in still had a lot of authority in it. Celsius set the Mark 11 back on it's stand and went to couch by the back wall. Jumping on it, Celsius didn't bother to turn off the light as he closed his eyes and rested peacefully, knowing nothing about tomorrow.

 **(* * *)  
**

Celsius had his mandatory school supplies with him as he walked through the hallway. He had no idea what to expect behind that door that he was assigned to. He was the new dragon in town, most likely he was probably going to get bullied by the other IceWings, so he would let them, until it came to combat training. The young IceWing looked at the schedule, and found he had combat training on Friday, the last class of the week.

Celsius breathed a couple times as he looked through the small window of the door. IceWings were looking intently at the teacher, which was most likely a hard ass, remembering the type of school IceWings had. One of the first IceWings he saw had a pattern of white and light blue scales on her snout and wings. For some reason, this made her stand out of the rest of the IceWings in the classroom. He examined a few more fellow students. _No one looks like a murderer, which is good. Now Celsius, it's time to begin the mission._

 _A mission that can save the future for the IceWings._

 **Hello readers! I am back in business, ready to type up chapters every few days. I want to give credit to Ghostpelt for the OC character of Queen Aurora, her description will be in later chapters. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and I will see you soon.**

 **Zmike6**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers! I hope you will enjoy this story and leave a review to tell me if you like this story or not. Anyways, let's get onto the next chapter.**

 **Glacier**

Glacier was bored as hell right now.

She was stuck in a classroom, taking notes on everything that the teacher was writing down. She had her arm supporting her head as she closely fell to sleep. Before she knew it, Glacier had her eyelids closed and was sleeping quietly as the professor continued to ramble on about the history of the other tribes.

"Wake up."

Glacier's eyes shot open as she her legs hit the bottom of her desk, making a sound loud enough for the whole classroom, and unfortunately, the teacher. Her mentor slowly turned around as the room sat dead silent. His gaze fixed on the young IceWing Princess as the dragon next to her stifled a laugh.

"Miss Glacier, is there a problem?" the older IceWing asked, but it sounded more like a demand. Glacier stared up at the professor as he face paled, but it couldn't be seen by the whiteness of her scales, which she thanked for in her thoughts. She softly tapped the desk nervously.

"No, professor," Glacier managed, "No problem at all." The old IceWing nodded and went back to the whiteboard. The next thing Glacier heard was from her classmate, who was softly laughing at her. She glared at her fellow IceWing, but it had no effect.

"Shut it, Iceflow," Glacier hissed under her breath.

"What? That was hilarious," Iceflow defended, still smiling as she pretended to write down notes as the professor looked back again.

"It wasn't to me," Glacier pointed out. "Moons, I can't wait for Friday, so I can kick your tail."

"You'll try." Iceflow smirked as Glacier rolled her eyes.

Iceflow was one of Glacier's best friends since she was a dragonet. Iceflow had a darker appearence than the other IceWings, but she had a friendlier personality than most. Most of her scales were a grayish-blue with white scales making a unusual pattern down her body, wings, and snout. She was also a good fighter and comforter. Ask her to do anything, and she could get it done quickly.

"If you two are done talking, I'd like to finish taking my notes." The voice came from behind Glacier, but she knew who it was. It was Ptarmigan, another good friend of Glacier's. They met when they were first assigned to the top class, which only contained IceWings who are in the top three circles: the dragons who live within the palace.

Ptarmigan was a very unique and a beautiful dragoness. She had a pattern of dark blue scales on her snout and wings **(similar to Lynx)** , making her unlike any other IceWing. She had a sweet and friendly personality, but could be hostile when she gets pissed off, and it doesn't go well for the dragon on the other side (Glacier knew this from experience). She was also demanding at times, like right now.

"Okay, 'your highness'," Iceflow said with mock sincerity, only to receive a sigh from Ptarmagin, who then went back to writing her notes. Glacier couldn't help but smile at her friends; they were a good and funny pair.

"Is something funny, Miss Glacier?" the IceWing Princess immediately looked up to see the professor, once again, looming over her.

"No, professor. Sorry," Glacier said apologetically, which thankfully went pass the professor passively. Her mentor frowned at her, then once again, walked back to the front of the room with his tail swaying from left to right.

"Nice cover up," Iceflow whispered between small giggles. Glacier only gave her a dark look before finally putting her gaze on the board, where the professor was continuing to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of SeaWings.

"...the SeaWing is able to breathe underwater, making their species very good at hiding." This sentence got a small laugh from the class, making the IceWing professor grin. "The downside to their underwater breathing is that they cannot shoot fire from out of their snouts, making their only weapon on themselves their talons and sharp teeth. The Queen of SeaWings is currently Queen Hurricane, and most likely heir to the throne is Princess Coral. If you study the normal soldier, then you-"

The back door of the classroom opened, followed by a male IceWing and a older IceWing with very polished scales. Everyone in the room looked back to see the younger IceWing, which Glacier frowned at. The IceWing had a nervous look on his face, but the built of his body meant he must've worked out a lot. He looked like a regular IceWing, but his spikes were a light blue instead of a pale white.

This was not what surprised her. The detail that disturbed her was the fact that she had no idea who this IceWing was. She knew every single dragon her age followed by the ones a few years younger. She went through her memory to try to figure out who the IceWing was, but she never recalled a single memory about meeting or ever seeing that IceWing.

"If I may speak to you, professor?" the older IceWing asked across the classroom. "Outside?" Glacier's mentor nodded as he made his way to the back to meet up with the two strangers. Within seconds, the trio were outside, talking about something Glacier didn't know of, or didn't care about. The classroom got loud as each dragon decided to talk about either the new student or their daily lives. Glacier whirled around to Ptarmagin to find out who he was, but her friend asked first.

"Who's that guy?"

"I was going to ask you," Glacier responded, ignoring her friend's question.

"But, don't you know every single IceWing?" Iceflow asked the IceWing Princess.

Glacier shook her head. "Apparently not this one."

"No one does." All three of the dragonesses turned around to see a IceWing with a serious tone slapped on his face. "No one, not even the professors know."

"What makes you think that, Reindeer?" Iceflow said with mock curiousity.

Reindeer was a muscular IceWing with good looks, getting the attention of most IceWing dragonesses (not including Glacier or her friends). He was also the best fighter in the school; he never lost a fight in combat class. He had a pattern of brown and white scales on his wings. He was one of the more serious dragons, but Glacier had seen him crack through his shell and be friendly and nice to others.

"I got great hearing and the teacher asked who was the new student."

"Did you get the name?"

Reindeer shook his head, making the IceWing Princess huff in frustration. "How do I not know this dragon?" The others were quiet, and Glacier was about to ask them to give her a reason, but the door opened, and the room went silent. Glacier sat back in her chair as the professor walked with the new student, but the older IceWing was no where in sight.

"Okay, class, we have a very unusual transfer student from the Basic IceWing Academy," the professor announced, making the class murmur uneasily: there has never been a transfer from the second and lower academy. The only past information Glacier ever heard was that there has only been shifting within the ranks of each academy. "I'm here to introduce Celsius, an IceWing from the seventh circle."

Glacier almost shot from out of her chair, and so did her friends. _WHAT?! There has to be some misunderstanding._ She looked at the new IceWing, Celsius, with her eyes widened in shock of the news. _There has never been a transfer between schools, even less chance that this dragon is from the seventh circle._ She slightly turned to see the same expression from her two friends: shocked.

"You can go take a seat in the back, Mr. Celsius," the new IceWing nodded and headed towards the back, getting the attention of every single dragon he passed.

 _Only here for half a minute and he's already making an impression of the others,_ Glacier thought. She was at the top of the ranks, and she wasn't going to let a seventh circle, low-life IceWing beat her. Her claws clenched into fists as she thought of being passed up by a lower ranked dragon. _This is unbelievable._ Her eyes followed Celsius to the back of the room, before she saw Iceflow and Ptarmagin looking at her. "What?" Her two friends looked at each other briefly before their gazes went back to her.

"We'll talk later," Iceflow whispered. "But he's certainly got your attention." Glacier looked at her friend skeptically as Iceflow went back to writing notes, and Ptarmagin did the same. _He will not be anymore than a item I will ignore._ After a few minutes of Glacier's thoughts overtaking her brain that directed her anger towards the new IceWing, she finally went back to writing in her notes.

Then something hit her.

She looked over her shoulder to see the new dragon taking notes, paying no attention to his surroundings. _Weird,_ she thought, but decided to ignore that new dragon. She went back to looking at the smart board, but couldn't shake a certain feeling. She felt something uncomfortable go through her scales. She couldn't put her mind on it,

but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

Before she knew it, the bell rang, and the next period was lunch, which meant she could get the "conversation" from Iceflow. She wasn't going to enjoy this much. Glacier got up from her desk and made her way after her two friends. As she walked towards the exit, she made her way up to Celsius. The new IceWing looked up briefly at her before he took his gaze down, collecting his books and throwing them in his bag.

Glacier folded her wings back and straightened her posture as she passed Celsius, sending him a message not to screw with her. The new IceWing didn't seem to notice her as he got up from his seat and made his way out of the exit, too. Glacier smiled as she walked down the hallway, mainly because she gave him a warning, but he didn't get it. This gave her more reason to give the new IceWing a hard time. She could do that, mainly because she was at the top of the rankings.

 _He also doesn't deserve to be in this academy,_ she thought bitterly, clenching her jaw. She knew she shouldn't be jealous of a low life IceWing, but it was really getting to her. She didn't bother to change emotions when she caught up with her friends. Ptarmagin looked at Glacier skeptically, but Iceflow was already asking.

"Who poisoned your breakfast?" she asked, grinning.

"What do you mean?" Glacier responded, giving her a curious look, but Iceflow rolled her eyes.

"That new IceWing, you jealous of him?"

Glacier stopped and looked at Ptarmagin. "We'll catch up."

"No way," Glacier's friend immediately responded, smiling. "This sounds way too interesting to pass up."

Glacier sighed as her two friends stared at her, anxious to get an answer. "I am not jealous of that low life IceWing." Her friends just looked at each other, not believing anything she was saying.

"Give us the real answer," Iceflow demanded as a group of third circle past them, joking and laughing with each other as they headed to the prey center.

"What real answer?' Glacier turned her head to see a male IceWing approached them, Reindeer following the dragon. It was Ridge, a second circle IceWing, but was catching up quickly with the first circle dragons.

Ridge was a confident and smart dragon, and also loyal to the queen. His mother was a dear friend of Glacier's, Queen Aurora, making them both close friends sense they were hatchlings. Hell, Glacier's mother suggested Ridge as the IceWing Princess's mate when she inherits the throne, resulting in Glacier almost dying in shock and embarrassment. It wasn't as if Glacier denied it either; Ridge was a nice, charming IceWing, making Glacier blush every time she thought of being mates with him. She also remembered hiding in her room for a week while her mother tried to convince her to come out after that private conversation

Even though Ridge looked like most IceWings, he had some differences. One was light blue scales covering his wings and deep blue eyes, one rare genetic that has been rarely seen in most of the tribe. The muscular IceWing was always kind to Glacier, but he told her that he never thought about being partners with her, to Glacier's relief.

"Oh, we're just asking about Glacier's feelings towards the new IceWing that came in our classroom today," Iceflow explained to Ridge.

"New IceWing?"

"His name is Celsius, and no, I don't have a problem with him," Glacier told the group, only to get skeptic looks from all four of her friends. "What!?"

"Then why did you glare at him back in class," Ptarmagin responded, staring at Glacier. "Look, he's not a threat to anyone. I bet he won't even survive battle training in combat class. I'm pretty sure your brother is going to kill him, like he does to all newbies."

 _She has a point,_ Glacier thought as she remembered what Narwhal did to some new dragons. She went back to the time when a new IceWing in the third circle challenged her brother to a fight in battle training, only to come out, limping for the next two months. It was two years ago, and there had been a lot worse battles with Narwhal.

"So you hate him for being what?" Ridge asked, still curious about the situation.

"He transferred here, but he is still a seventh circle IceWing," Glacier explained, growling lowly as she talked. She then started walking, followed by her friends. There were IceWings everywhere in the hallway, some going to the study, but many of them were going to the prey center, as expected.

"Oh, but that's still not a real reason," Ridge told the group. "It seems to me you're just jealous of him." The IceWing Princess balled her claws into fists.

"I am not jealous of him!"

She immediately regretted what she just said, mainly because she said it too loud, causing some IceWings to look at her, then walk away. She suspected it was because they were afraid of her, considering she the daughter of the queen. She closed her eyes, still seething while she heard Iceflow chuckle at that.

"Of who? Me?" The group of five turned around, followed by the rest of the IceWings in the hallway, making the the passage dead silent. Glacier felt herself getting closer to full out rage every time she looked at him. It was the new IceWing, Celsius, who was still carrying all his books from class. "Well, don't be. I'm just a low-life IceWing, after all, just as you call me."

Glacier's two friends turned to look at her while the IceWing Princess just stared at Celsius in shock. "You heard that?"

Celsius nodded profoundly. "Well, I'm not deaf, blind, mute, or stupid, as you IceWing nobles like to call us. Also don't worry, I don't plan on getting on the top of the rankings anytime soon, but there is one thing you don't to me ever again." Glacier didn't believe it, but Celsius had irritation in his voice. He approached the IceWing Princess with a slightly angered expression until he was a few feet away. Glacier's friends back to the walls to let the two of them duel it out. "Don't insult me again, mainly because you don't know what it feels like to on the bottom. And yes, I mean the very bottom of the rankings."

"Then how did you get here? Into this academy instead other one?"

"In curtesy on my uncle, who requested me to be in the academy for the higher ranked IceWings. The request was approved by the Queen, who is your mother." Glacier's eyes widened. _My mother approved this?_ "There is one condition though. If I move up the rankings into the third circle within a month, I get to stay here, too."

"How do you know who I am?" She immediately regretted the question, because she knew what he was about to say next.

"I listen," he responded, then went up, next to Glacier's head. "Don't try to sabotage me," he whispered in her ear, while she stayed shocked, because she was being ordered by an IceWing with a lower rank. And with that, he walked off towards the prey center, and everyone went back to their business, although the only thing they were talking about was the event between Princess Glacier and the new IceWing.

"What was that all about?" Reindeer asked Glacier, who was now starting to fume. She showed weakness to this IceWing and embarassed herself in front of part of the school. "What did he whisper in your ear?"

"I need to be alone," Glacier managed to her friends, barely holding in the rage. She walked away from the group, who just watched her go. This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't be. She was letting this low-life IceWing get to her, and messing with her mind. Glacier let her tail lash left and right, and her claws dug into the ice below her, leaving marks in the solid water. In felt like a while, but she was now outside, along with a few IceWings who were flying to the prey center or if it was a young couple going to a secluded place of the school to be alone.

She wanted her rage to go vanish. She needed to be a leader to all the IceWings, she was their future queen, but she wasn't acting like one.

Raising her wings, she launched into the sky and made her way to a spot that calmed her down. The chill of the wind on her scales felt soothing and soft, relaxing her as she made her way to the top of the school, where she could gaze at the palace and let the distant sounds of IceWing wings talking, laughing, and cheering flow into her. This made Glacier calm, because she could feel the joy of the dragons in the tribe, making her anxious to inherit the throne.

But the thought of Celsius in her mind angered her. She wanted him to vanish from the kingdom and go back to wherever he was before he came here. She also had another feeling towards him, which confused her. Glacier felt curious towards the new IceWing, wanting to know everything about him. It wasn't something the IceWing Princess came across, but there was one thing she could bet her life on.

There was a lot more to Celsius than what meets the eye.

 **Done with the chapter, which should've been posted yesterday. If you guys like this story, then leave a review. Anyways, I will see you again and Happy Fourth of July to all the Americans out there.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I hope you guys are loving this story and sorry for not updating: I was flying home two days ago and I was too tired to start typing yesterday. Anyways! On with the story.**

 **Celsius**

Celsius was at a café table, watching Glacier from a distance. He knew that if Glacier found out, she'd call him a stalker, but that wasn't the case. Reading a scroll at the table, he occasionally glanced up to see Glacier walking with her friends. They were currently walking around, looking at jewelry through windows. Celsius noticed that there was a glitter in her eyes, even from one hundred feet away, and he suspected that Glacier found something she wanted.

"Here's your coffee," an IceWing waiter said to Celsius, putting the beverage on the table. Celsius grinned and took it, and the IceWing left him to enjoy his drink. Taking a sip, Celsius noticed that it tasted much better than the coffee at the office he used to work at.

 _IceWings do know how to make the best things,_ Celsius thought, looking at the café. It was made of solid ice, with windows placed twenty feet apart from each other, giving IceWings inside the view of what was going on around them. Celsius knew that the windows were made for freezing temperatures, making them less likely to break like thin ice in sub-zero weather. The tables and chairs were also made of thick ice; hell, the whole building was just a bunch of ice. The building on the inside and outside was just bland; nothing colorful or nice to look at. All the buildings were the same, too, making Celsius think of how the IceWings knew what building to go to. _Strange._

Taking another drink from his hot beverage, Celsius saw that the IceWing Princess went inside the building, and was talking to one of the jewelers. _I thought her mother would get anything she wanted,_ Celsius thought as he looked at the scroll he was studying.

Apparently, the Advanced IceWing Acadmy didn't care if you were new, because Celsius was studying for a test tomorrow that most inner circle IceWings have been studying for a few weeks, trying to memorize everything. The test was about the SeaWing culture; looking at the strengths and weaknesses the tribe had and how to exploit them.

Even though the teachers were trying to be hard on him, Celsius already learned this stuff in special agent training. _They need to be more challenging,_ he thought as he scoped out Glacier, who now exited with a bag, and walked around a corner with her friends, into another block of stores.

"Frigid," Celsius said in a low voice. "She's out of my vision, get into the security footage and watch."

" _Affirmative,"_ Frigid responded in Celsius's earpiece. The earpiece was small, but the device could be seen if one looked close enough. It was the only way the two IceWings could communicate with each other.

Celsius placed his scroll back in his backpack, then headed after the IceWing Princess. It wasn't an easy job either, mainly because Glacier looked behind her back every so often. Since she did that sort of thing, Celsius had to watch from a long distance, out of the view of Glacier.

" _Looks like she's going back to the palace, I got it from here,"_ Frigid said over the earpiece.

"Okay, coming home, but I got to make a stop," Celsius told Frigid, who sighed in response.

"Gun store?"

"Yeah," Celsius answered with a grin. "Got to replace most of the parts on each and every gun." This was true, due to the amount of rust in the barrels and how brittle they were, most of the guns would blow up in his face is Celsius shot them. Each and every gun needed heavy maintenance, which gave Celsius lots of time to pass.

Getting up from his seat, Celsius made his way across the wide walkway, and towards the gun store. Unfortunately, it was the same way Glacier went. Taking a breath, Celsius made his way, and turned the corner to the same block.

After walking to the same street Glacier was, Celsius was introduce by multiple IceWings chatting away as the walked past him. In fact, Celsius almost ran into a IceWing dragoness, who just gave him a weird look in response. It was only half a minute until Celsius made it the gun store, and he made a small dash to the entrance. He was almost there when, out the corner of his eye, Celsius saw Glacier look behind her.

And spotted him.

Her eyes went wide as Celsius opened the store door and walked in. _This day has gone to an all time low now,_ Celsius thought as he was immediately greeted by the same employee that he saw last time, Frostbite. The IceWing employee welcomed Celsius with a frown, before putting his claws on the table. "What do you need now, Special Agent Celsius?," Frostbite asked the IceWing agent.

"I just need a twelve inch barrel, gun trigger, the usual," Celsius responded, and Frostbite just shrugged in a bored way as he made his way behind swinging doors to get the supplies Ceslsius needed. As he waited, Celsius looked around the weapon store.

It was probably one of the most interesting buildings Celsius has been into since he got here. Guns of all sorts were hanging from the walls on stands. Each one had a price tag on them, but the IceWing Agent already had all of them in his basement, thanks to his real father, of course. Some of the guns had different colors, but the majority had snow camouflage on them. In the clear, glass counter, there were different optics for the weapons. Even Celsius had to admit that they were cool, being able to see the enemy from afar.

It was only a few moments before Celsius heard the entrance door open. He turned his head, and was surprised by what he saw.

Of all the IceWings that could've walked through the door, it had to be one of Glacier's friends carrying a bag. He had a good body build and his walk was confident. From his appearence, Celsius had to think that he was Glacier's boyfriend, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. The only thing was that he didn't want to be here at all. He walked to the store counter and placed the bag on it. Celsius just stood there, trying to avoid the massive IceWing, but he seemed to notice Celsius.

"Hey," the IceWing spoke, and Celsius whirled his head to him. "Aren't you that seventh-circle IceWing."

"Who, me?" Celsius asked in response.

"Yeah."

"Here you go," Frostbite announced, holding a sealed cardboard box to the IceWing Agent. Celsius couldn't help but notice the other IceWing watch him as he grabbed the box full of gun parts.

"Is your name Celsius?" The IceWing asked.

"Yeah," Celsius answered, looking at the IceWing, who gave the bag to Frostbite. Frostbite opened and looked inside the bag, and Celsius was able to see what it was.

It was a Kriss Vector, a very effective, compact PDW when used at close range. It had a snow camouflage body and barrel, which made it look sexy in Celsius's point of view. That wasn't the best part; it carried a thin magazine that could hold twenty-five rounds. The IceWing agent also knew it had a fire rate of 1,200 rounds a minute and low recoil. **(This information is for gun nerds like me).** Celsius couldn't believe it, but he was actually drooling over a gun, a very, VERY, powerful gun.

Immediately raising his head, Celsius looked at Frostbite, who was taking the magazine out. "How much do you want for that?" Frostbite looked up, bewildered, and the other IceWing had the same expression.

"I just got it..." Frostbite responded, "but I can sell it to you for 1,600$"

"Deal," Celsius said immediately, taking the credit card out of his wallet. Unbeknownst to him, the two IceWings just looked at him awestruck. "What?"

"Um, it's kind of illegal for an IceWing still in school to own a weapon," the IceWing said, a little nervous at the situation. "You could go to jail for this."

"No, I can't," Celsius responded without the slightest hint of worry. "My father got me a permit a couple years back. Right, Frostbite?"

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, it's true, he was permitted by the King himself," the IceWing employee assured, nodding blindly. He then took Celsius's credit card and swiped it through the chip reader. After it was approved by the device, Frostbite then gave it back Celsius. While this happened, the IceWing next to Celsius just stood there, silent and shocked. Frostbite got a box for the Vector weapon while Celsius waited. He decided to find out who this dragon was while he waited.

"You know, all this time, and you haven't given me your name," Celsius told the IceWing. Immediately being snapped out of his gaze, then IceWing shook his head rapidly.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry about that!" the IceWing exclaimed. "My name is Ridge." He grabbed his shoulder, looking away sheepishly. "Stupid of me to forget something."

"Don't worry, Ridge," Celsius responded. "It happens to all of us." After he said this, Frostbite came out from the back with a cardboard box in his claws. He gave it to Celsius, who thanked him, then walked away to talk to another customer. Celsius then made his way to the exit, with Ridge following him for some reason.

Exiting the door and heading home, he noticed that Ridge was on his tail. He looked back to see the IceWing grin back at him. Stopping himself, he looked back at the IceWing, who stopped with him.

"Can I help you?" Celsius asked, who was getting skeptic.

"Yeah, I was just wondering is I could hang out with you," Ridge responded. "And I bet you haven't been in the city."

Celsius blinked in surprise at the statement, then went to calm in a heartbeat. "How did you know?"

"Well, I just suspected since you're a IceWing from the lower circle, you've probably never been in the city. I would gladly show you around, but if you don't, then I can just go." Ridge looked at Celsius one last time before walking the other way.

"Wait!" the IceWing agent called to Ridge, who turned around to meet Celsius's gaze. "I'm busy today, but maybe some other time."

Ridge processed the sentence, before giving Celsius a smile. "Well, just tell me, and we can meet after classes."

Celsius smiled back and began to walk away, but Ridge stopped him again. Celsius turned around as Ridge called his name again.

"You might want to avoid battle training class tomorrow, because I'm positive that Glacier is going to volunteer you against Narwhal," Ridge said, worried pouring in his voice.

Celsius frowned at Ridge, "That's a pretty dumb reason why I want to skip class. And why should I be worried about this Narwhal guy?"

"Narwhal is very skilled in fighting - he's been training since he was a year old. No one can beat him, even some of the best army warriors can't beat him."

"Is there any other reason why I shouldn't go to combat class besides this? Or is that it?" Celsius asked, but he already knew there was another reason. _Just tell me the truth Ridge._ Ridge looked down for split second, before looking back up.

"Well, it would be a shame if my new friend got killed tomorrow," Ridge finally told Celsius. The IceWing agent let out a chuckle at that; there was no way anybody other than Jupiter who could beat him in claw-to-claw combat.

"I'll take your opinion into mind," Celsius told Ridge. At that, they parted ways, and Celsius made his way to his now permanent home. As he walked, he didn't see any sign of Princess Glacier. Sighing in relief, he continued to walk down the road, avoiding hurrying IceWings and dragonets, who clearly didn't care for being this rude. _Hopefully this will be finished soon. I'm already starting to miss everyone and the dragons here are going to drive me crazy._

He knew he was about ten minutes away from his home, so he decided to go faster.

And he didn't notice a pair of pale, blue eyes watching him.

 **(* * *)**

Celsius was first greeted in his new home by an angry IceWing. Frigid was currently scolding him for buying a weapon through the agency's account. He began to sternly explain responsibility, maturity, respect, etc. To be honest, Celsius didn't know what half of those things had to do with buying a gun. _This dragon is just a burden to me,_ Celsius thought as Frigid continued to lecture him.

"...you need to know that the agency isn't your private bank to be able to pay for everything. These things cost lots of money, so next time you want to buy something, you will have to pay for it yourself." Frigid gave Celsius a stern look at the end of the speech, but it didn't seem to get through to the IceWing agent. "Well?" Celsius just grinned at Frigid for a moment, them laughed.

"I thought I said I was going to pay for it before you made this speech." Frigid just sighed and shook his head as he swayed his tail left to right, and Celsius gave him a toothy smile. Celsius then made his way downstairs with the box from the gun store.

"You know, Celsius," Frigid started. As soon as he heard this, Celsius sighed loudly. _Here we go again._ "You are very reckless and care free, which worries me." Celsius opened the box, and observed the contents within it. The Vector was the first thing into view, and Celsius carefully took the gun out and hung it on a empty stand on the wall. "One day, your going to need to make a decision, not for you, but for others."

"I'll heed that advice once I come into a situation that involves decisions," Celsius told Frigid, who just went silent, then walked back upstairs. As the sound of footsteps began to fade, Celsius walked over to the back wall and took a sniper rifle off the stand.

This sniper was Celsius's father first creation, when he was only a dragonet. It said this in a note he found on the weapon, which was directed towards the young IceWing. The gun was old and out of shape: many of the parts were rusted and were about to fall off. Celsius knew that his father would want it brought back to life again, so he decided that this was going to be his first project.

Walking over to the box, Celsius took a long, circular piece of metal - the barrel, and placed it side to side to see what kind of adjustments it needed. After Celsius placed the new barrel next to the old, he noticed something off. Looking at the two barrels, Celsius noticed that it was custom design. Along the barrel, there were big divots, giving it a more unique look.

Another feature was an inscription that went along the barrel as well. Since the metal was old, though, there was no way Celsius could make out the words. As he continued to look at the differences, Celsius sighed. _This will be a long project,_ he thought miserably.

 _But this is a memory of my father._

Celsius got to work immediately by making his way to a small room connecting to the basement. Within seconds, he found the item he needed - an angle grinder. He turned the device on (since it was powered by a wireless battery) and got to work on the new barrel. It wasn't until a few minutes that he was interrupted by Frigid, for the second time.

"Celsius, we got a classified assignment," Frigid yelled over the sound the grinder was causing. Celsius looked up, only to see the IceWing coming down the stairs pretty quickly. Turning the device off, Celsius set the grinder down and watched as Frigid began to explain things. "Okay, there's going to be a celebration for the IceWings within the third circle."

"Then how am I suppose to enter? I'm from the seventh circle," Celsius reminded Frigid, who quickly responded.

"You aren't, you're just going to be looking at IceWings who look suspicious," Frigid explained. "You will be equipped with any sniper you choose, and you will shoot at any dragon who makes an assassination attempt."

"What if I mistake something and kill an innocent IceWing?" Frigid paused and thought about how bad that situation would be. After some time of thinking, he just responded with a shrug, and Celsius shook his head. "So we're screwed."

"Yeah, but let's think about that, yet," Frigid told Celsius. "Besides, you're the best shot the agency has, so I'm positive you can do it. I'm not done explaining things either. Intelligence also knows that there's going to be IceWing insurgents there who are going to assassinate Queen Aurora, so be on the lookout."

"Do you, by any chance, have a layout of what the party is going to look like?"

Frigid responded to that question with a grin. "Even better, I got a hologram." He took a circular piece of metal put of his satchel, clicked a button, and threw it on the table. The piece of metal hit the table hard, but it stayed upright.

The next thing Celsius knew was blinding flash of light.

Squinting his eyes shut, he looked away for a brief period, then opened his eyes. The once ordinary piece of metal was projecting a three dimensional layout of the location of the celebration. It looked like the courtyard to the palace, which had tall skyscrapers going up into the sky, trying to pierce the clouds trying to fly by.

"It's a prototype," Frigid explained, "it's only a few days old, but works like a dream." Celsius nodded, clearly interested on how the thing worked. What was not interesting, and mostly horrifying, was how vulnerable the Queen of the IceWings would be.

"I never thought our tribe could be this stupid," Celsius growled. "Look how many open spots a sniper could be placed." The IceWing pointed at each and every spot a shooter could be placed. "It would be suicide for the queen to go outside during this."

"I agree, but the IceWings think that there whole tribe is loyal to their leader; they have no idea about the secret group of rebels," Frigid informed, and Celsius had to agree with him.

 _This is worse than bad, it's a nightmare._ Celsius looked up at Frigid. "I know where the rebels are going to place their sniper and spotter."

"You think there's going to be two?"

"I know, it will get them the best accuracy," Celsius confirmed. "It's going to be the biggest skyscraper: they'll will have more escape routes and more time to clean up after themselves when the guards search the building. I also guarantee that they'll on this floor." He pointed to the twenty-fifth floor, which had the best escape route: an exit right next to the spot where they would shoot.

"Well, if you think so, then I trust you," Frigid said, giving Celsius a nod. Celsius returned the action with a grin and Frigid shut off the device. Slipping the device into his satchel, Frigid began his way upstairs, before stopping. "One more thing." Celsius looked up and watched the other IceWing.

"Only the Queen, her advisors, and our spy know about this celebration. They haven't announced it, so no one can figure out you know about it. Understand?"

Celsius nodded, and Frigid walked upstairs, leaving Celsius alone for the rest of the night. That was a good thing, too; there were a lot of things going through the IceWing's head. _Why can't they have a party in a secure place? Who else knows about this besides the Queen and her advisors? How do the rebels know about this?"_

Then Celsius realized something, something that he should've first thought about. This was bigger than the agency knew about, and Celsius figured it out. Celsius realized that the Queen of the IceWings was not safe at all, and neither was the princess. There was going to be little chance that Celsius could do anything, unless he became friends with the princess, which wasn't probably going to happen. Nevertheless, he was going to try anyways. There are traitors within the palace, and they were the ones the IceWing Queen trusted.

The real threat is the Royal Guard.

 **Okay, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and please don't be mad at me for being inactive (even though I deserve it). Anyways, I will see you soon on the next chapter in "Not Always Alone".**

 **IndigoWingedWolf: I thought about what you said, and here's the answer: I don't really know why I'm against MudWings, but maybe it's because I can't think of other characters.**

 **WrongfulRanger00: Yeah, it's going to be about the dragons of the Lost Continent, but I ain't going to say anything else cause I don't want to spoil "Darkness of Dragons".**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello readers, I have nothing to announce. Let's just get on with the story.**

 **Glacier**

The sun was rising, and that meant that Glacier had to get up or she would be late for her classes. Slowly rising up from her bed, Glacier yawned and blinked her a few times to adjust to the brightness of the morning. After she accomplished not vision adjustment, she moved off her bed and walked to her mirror. The mirror was next to her drawer of jewelry. Opening one of the shelves, she looked at her choices for today.

There was jewelry of all colors and sizes, but Glacier preferred the diamonds; she liked to be reminded of her tribe and how she would run it one day. She then took out her diamond necklaces and put each one on, one by one. After she finished that, she opened the door to exit out of her room, and headed through the long hallways to exit the palace.

As she walked, she looked side to side to study the IceWing servants and soldiers that walked along their own paths. Every time one of the dragons looked at her, she gave them a smile to reassure them that they were going to have a safe future and a humble queen. It was only about a minute of walking along more hallways, but she made her way to grand entrance of the palace. Unfortunately for her, Glacier's mother was there, talking with another noble.

"Make sure the decorations are perfect," Queen Aurora told the IceWing noble. "We want the best celebration for the ones who will run the kingdom." As if Glacier was a beacon, the queen turned her head and smiled as she saw her daughter walk towards her. "Hello, my daughter," she greeted.

"Hello, mother," Glacier responded, giving her a smile. "What was that conversation about?"

"I figured it's the right time for hosting the celebration of the first, second, third circle IceWing students," the IceWing Queen responded. "I am just finishing up with the small details. Are you hungry, I can have an IceWing get you a hawk for breakfast."

"No, but thank you mother," Glacier responded, but this time with curiousity on her mind. "But I do have a question."

"Yes?"

"It's about the new IceWing, Celsius," Glaicer informed her mother, who was listening intently. "Did you allow him, a seventh circle IceWing, to have a chance to be in the third circle?"

"Oh dear," Queen Aurora responded, knowing where this conversation was going. "Yes, I did, but he had a very logical explanation on why he wanted to excel the rankings. I also have to give my subjects a chance at a good future."

"And what is this explanation?"

"If you want to know, then you ask him. He wanted to keep the reason a secret," the Queen responded firmly. "Now go get polished up before classes, you need to look like a leader."

 _Yet, she doesn't know that Celsius made me look submissive,_ she thought to herself, her anger starting to pour into her blood. "Yes, mother, but isn't it also good to tell me about this situation, so I can handle something like this in the future?"

"I will teach you that, but I will not tell you something that has been promised to kept between me and my subject," Queen Aurora. "And do not threaten this IceWing, give him a chance like all the other IceWings."

 _Not likely,_ Glacier thought, seething in irritation. _This is so unfair, how am I suppose to act like a leader if I don't know what the problem is._ Huffing in annoyance, she then walked out the main entrance of the palace, and to the courtyard. The courtyard was covered in a thin layer of pure white snow as the sun's shining rays reflected off the cold powder. This was what soothed Glacier: a nice, peaceful morning with bright rays, making the ground more vibrant.

Speaking of vibrant, the IceWing Princess looked down at herself, noticing that she was glistening in the sun. _Better get hat fixed,_ she noted, jumping into the sky and flying to the one spot she loved, the pool in the ocean. She beat her wings as she neared the one spot that never froze over during the harsh winter over the ocean, it was a great place to get cleaned up. It was about thirty by thirty opening in the ocean, giving Glacier enough room to get into.

Once she was above the oceanic pool, Glacier folded her wings to her back, forcing herself into a nose dive. She was hurling towards Pyrrhia with no sign of stopping. It was only a matter of seconds before she hit the water, the coolness washing over her scales as she then turned around to go back into the sky. She then went through the same spot she went in, and then flew back to palace to collect her scrolls for class.

Glacier then looked at herself as she flew, smiling as her scales reflected the sunlight, making herself look menacing and majestic at the same time. As she flapped her wings, she couldn't help but think of Celsius, replaying the moment when he called her out in the hallway, where part of school heard the conversation. Even though she was still mad at him, Glacier also had to admit that was the bravest thing any IceWing ever did to her. It was even more gutsy of him to do considering of how low in the ranks he was. Celsius was practically asking to get killed in combat class, too. Glacier's brother, Narwhal, looked out for the IceWing Princess as a real brother, but he was also jealous that she would inherit the throne one day instead of him.

Since Narwhal most likely heard what happened a yesterday, and all three of them being in the same combat class, Glacier would see Celsius get destroyed by her own brother, and hopefully this would make her feel better. _I just want that IceWing to learn his place in the ranks._

Glacier was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice that she was already in the courtyard of the palace. Looking around, she saw the decorations of the party that would be tomorrow. Spheres of ice were hung across the outside of the open hallways around the courtyard. The plants from the Gift of Light were being placed around the courtyard, too. Mother was going out of her way to make this a beautiful celebration.

Walking into the palace, Glaicer started back to her room to get my scrolls. She was not excited for the test today, but she smiled at thought of Celsius taking it without any preparation. She smirked as she walked to her room, grabbed her pack filled with scrolls, and headed back out. She was back at the palace entrance, and took out into the air, making her way towards the Academy.

 **(* * *)**

Glacier walked out of the classroom, relieved that the test she'd prepare for was over. It was two weeks of hard studying and countless hours of sacrifice, but she finished it. The IceWing Princess couldn't wait to see until her test results came in. To make the day better, the test was taken right before lunch, so now she could relax for half an hour before her next class.

"You look better," a voice announced from behind Glacier. Turning her head, she saw that Ptarmigan was walking up to her. Glacier nodded, confirming her words and they both walked towards the prey center. "How do you think you did on the test?"

"I feel pretty confident that I got the high grade, as usual," Glacier bragged, causing Ptarmigan to roll her eyes at her.

Glacier was the smartest student in the Academy, always out scoring the other IceWings by either a few points or a large margin of them. She couldn't wait to see how badly Celsius failed at the test, considering he had only hours at most to study.

 _Why am I still thinking of him?_ Glaicer frowned, trying to ignore any thought of the new IceWing, but one after another kept appearing. As she checked through each and other thought, she remembered seeing him go into the weapons store. _What was he doing in there?_ She couldn't get her mind off it, but she knew there was another reason why this particular IceWing asked to be in the Advanced Academy.

"Glacier, you coming?" Ptarmigan asked her friend, snapping Glacier out of her thoughts. The IceWing Princess noticed that she stopped walking, but quickly recovered as she caught up. "Are you seriously still having thoughts about that IceWing?"

"What! No," Glacier lied, but she wouldn't admit it. Distraction was what made a leader weak, and Glacier afford that; she was also trying to recover from yesterday.

Ptarmigan looked at her friend, this time with a worried glance on her face. "You know that will not work on me. Why are you so caught up in him. I haven't seen you like this since your mother told you that you and Ridge could be..." She trailed off, and Ptarmigans eyes lit up in fascination.

"No, why would I think like that!" Glacier snapped, then stomped off towards the prey center, without waiting for her friend, who just stood still, silent as other IceWings made their way to the prey center or to a class.

 _Why would she ever think that!_ Glacier thought furiously, lashing her tail as she walked down the hallway. Several IceWings saw her anger and quickly moved out of the way in unison. _He disrespected me, why would I ever think like that of him._

 _Maybe because he's very similar to you; he acts like a leader, and he stands up for himself._ This thought made the IceWing Princess shiver. Were they similar like this? The shivering, though, made Glacier even more furious, showing hesitation was bad characteristic for a leader, so she shoved the thought out of her mind and headed into the prey center.

The first IceWing Glacier saw in the room was Iceflow. She was sitting at one of the tables, swaying her tail left and right, not caring if she hit another one of her kind. Immediately after spotting her though, Glacier knew that Iceflow wasn't being herself. She was usually starving once it came to lunch period, but Glacier noticed she wasn't eating.

The IceWing Princess made her way to the table and sat beside her friend, who was staring at the dead penguin in front of her. Iceflow sighed, and Glacier began to wonder what was going on with her friend. "You okay, Iceflow?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, I'm fine," Iceflow responded, not looking at Glacier. "Just thinking about what happened yesterday."

"Would you mind telling me?"

Iceflow looked at Glacier, and she had a hint of sadness in her eyes. "It's just, one of my good friends, who was the last one in the cut-off in the third circle. Well, she went down in the rankings, saying that Celsius took the place above her."

 _What in the moons?_ Glacier was confused by this: How could a seventh circle IceWing already move up to the third circle in a day. "What's going to happen to her?"

"She has a week to get back up in the third circle, or she'll move down to the other Academy," Iceflow her explained, closing her eyes, clearly thinking of the horrible thought of losing her good friend. "There's one thing I need to know, though. How could Celsius already move into the third circle in a day? I mean, that sounds impossible."

"I'll make sure to ask him," Glacier answered with a low hiss.

Instead of getting a nod from her, Glacier saw that Iceflow was shaking her head. "Don't go on accusing Celsius of nothing. Give the new guy a chance. Even though I'm a little angry at him, I'm also astonished, too. He made his monthly goal in only a few hours."

Processing the words her friend just said, Glacier was quite shocked that she was humble towards a dragon that made her lose a good friend. The IceWing Princess couldn't quite process why she should give Celsius a chance, but she still wanted to talk with him. "Do you know where the new guy is?"

Iceflow looked towards the back of the prey center and nodded her head. Glaicer followed the line of sight Iceflow took, and saw the target. Celsius was there, drawing on a notebook. She also saw Ridge sitting across from Celsius, looking at whatever was on the notebook. Glacier then made her way over to the pair, frowning at Celsius and what he was drawing. It wasn't until she was a couple yards away that Celsius looked at up her, and Glacier saw the completely opposite expression from Celsius then what he had yesterday.

Glacier noticed that he looked relieved to see her, and she didn't know why. She also didn't know why she wasn't furious at what he had changed in a day. Iceflow was going to be silent for the rest of the day, and it didn't make classes any more fun without her usually characteristics. "Hello, Ridge. And you, too," Glacier announced, standing above them as Ridge turned around.

"Oh, hey Glacier," said Ridge, who was digging into a polar bear he found during hunting class. The IceWing was eating it greedily, as if he hadn't eaten in a month. "Just getting to know the newbie."

"Newbie?" Celsius asked, looking at Glacier and Ridge with a confused expression, but it quickly turned to realization. "Oh, yeah, it's only been a day." The new IceWing then started to put the notebook he was drawing on away, but he was doing it a little too quickly.

"So what were you drawing?" Glacier asked, curiousity started to flow into her mind. _I need to get information off of him,_ she thought, looking at the bag that was currently holding the notebook.

"It's nothing. I just like to draw to get relieved of stress," Celsius answered, and he focused on the fox that was lying below him.

"Well, if it's nothing, then can I see it?" Glacier asked, peering forward at the IceWing. As she got closer to Celsius, she saw the worry in Ridge's expression out of the corner of her eye. It was as if he was trying to say not to provoke the new IceWing, especially one she didn't know. "I mean, there shouldn't be any harmful with me seeing it." Celsius looked up, though a bit worried at what she asked, and mentally smiled: she hit a soft spot.

"Well, I-uh guess," Celsius told Glacier, trying to hide his nervousness, but Glacier was already aware of it. She had to be watchful and keen at what other dragons did. It was one characteristic that made every queen stronger.

Glacier watched Celsius like a hawk as he grabbed the notebook from his pack and placed it on the table. Waiting eagerly to open it, Glacier took a small step forward to get a better view as he flipped to the last page he was on. The result from what she saw was not expected.

It was the drawing of an IceWing, and it's detail was incredible, too. The IceWing in the drawing was wearing a confident grin on it's face. It's wings were spread out, making the IceWing look bigger than it actually was. Glacier could even see the lines where the scales separated, making it look exactly like a real dragon. The IceWing looked majestic, but also had a menacing aura to it. It wasn't until Glacier gave it a long, hard look until she figured out who the IceWing was suppose to be. The answer startled her.

It was herself, and she was quiet. The drawing of Glacier had all the details of her face, body, wings, and tail. Looking up, back at Celsius, she actually felt impressed towards the dragon who humiliated her. He was currently eating his fox, but stopped to meet Glacier's eyes, before looking at the drawing as well.

"You like it?" Celsius asked Glacier, who was just in the state of shock. For the second time in under a day, she went speechless again. She didn't know who this dragon was, but she felt like he was outdoing her, and she didn't like it. "Um, you okay?"

"Yeah, it's pretty... cool," Glacier responded, focusing back to reality. She looked down at the drawing again, and it was like looking in a mirror. Everything about her appearence was spot on, but instead of being in awe, she started to feel suspicious again.

"Then keep it," Celsius told her bluntly. "I finished the drawing, I just needed to get it to you." He tore the drawing out of his notebook and handed the piece of paper to her. Hesitating, Glacier grabbed the drawing and looked at it one more time, before going back towards Iceflow. "Wait, I need to tell you something, Glacier." Glacier turned her head to hear what he wanted to tell her, but the bell rang, and the prey center became a room of chaos.

"Meet me at the front after classes finish," Glacier told the new IceWing, who nodded my showing no expression. _He must be cautious when around me, considering I'm still furious at him._ Glacier made her way out towards the exit and to her next class. As she walked, she noticed that Ptarmigan was next to her, gazing towards the piece of paper in her claw.

"A love letter?" Ptarmigan asked sarcastically, but only received a glare from the IceWing Princess. "I was just joking."

"Well, I'm not in the mood, and this," Glacier unraveled the drawing, and showed it to her friend. The first expression from Ptarmigan was a look of impression and awe, "just makes me even more furious at him. It's like Celsius is trying to be friends the day after he humiliated me and ruined my reputation." She gave a small hiss, and continued on to her next class.

"But, aren't you going to meet him after classes?" Glacier stopped and looked back at her friend, who was clearly confused with the situation. "So are you fine with him or not?"

"I'm just going to hear what he has to say, and it better not be an apology." With that, Glacier continued on, changing the subject with her friend until they got to their next class, which was free from her complicated situation with the new IceWing. Looking back at the drawing one more time, Glacier thought angrily on why he was being so kind to her all of a sudden. _Maybe he's trying to trick me,_ her mind alerted her. _Or maybe he feels guilty about what he did yesterday._

As she continued on with her internal war, she stuffed the drawing in her bag. The war of thoughts in her mind was starting to give Glacier a headache, and she did not need one of them right now. She needed to be a strong leader for her classmates, and getting caught up with a headache was only going to interfere. _Damn you, Celsius._ She finally thought, before the professor started explaining about the history of the IceWings. Listening to her teacher, Glacier soon forgot about her raging thoughts of Celsius, but she wasn't going to ever forget the drawing he made for her.

 **Hello readers, hope you are enjoying the story so far. I would've gotten the chapter out yesterday, but I was too tired after being at an Amusement Park all day long. Anyways, I will see you in the next chapter.**

 **Also, I finally hit my first, small goal of typing 100k words on fanfiction! This is just one small step towards my main goal: Typing 1 million. Anyways, I really appreciate the amount of support each of you have given me, I will never forget it.**

 **Note: Queen Aurora belongs to Ghostpelt of ThunderClan.**

 **Zmike**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello readers, I am sorry for not publishing another chapter, but I have been busy with high school. Chapter development will probably be slower due to that I will be part of my freshman football team. I still don't know if I'll commit to the sport the whole time I'm in high school, but I won't let it slow down my chapter development too much. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will see you guys soon.**

 **Celsius**

The bell rang, and Celsius was off to his last class for the day: Combat Class. He was very excited, due to being the first one out of the previous room and rushing through the hallway, avoiding his fellow IceWing classmates.

As he walked down the hallway, Celsius' mind was on the event when he gave her his drawing. Celsius knew it wasn't the best thing he ever drawn, but the image in his head told him that he couldn't let a unique dragon like Glacier not be expressed through art. The IceWing agent then skipped to the part where she was surprised and impressed by his drawing of her, but there was thing that Celsius thought was odd.

Even though he knew he might've been hallucinating, Celsius swore he saw Glacier blush slightly for a brief second. Even as he thought of this, Celsius knew that it couldn't be true and that she was most likely thinking about another IceWing in her life. _It's best if I don't research deep in that compartment,_ Celsius thought, approving it in a split second, _that isn't my business._ He abandoned the thought almost immediately.

As he continued to travel down the narrow path, his tail curled up and his wings folded, he noticed that he felt the presence of being watched. The first instinct in his mind was to pretend that he didn't notice the watchers. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Celsius saw who was watching him.

It was the IceWing, Narwhal, that Celsius had heard about a lot. This IceWing was Princess Glacier's brother, loyal to the royal lineage and ferocious in battle. This is what Ridge had explained the Celsius during lunch, before Glacier came over and ruined whatever else Ridge was going to explain.

The IceWing Prince was frowning at Celsius, then looked back down at the IceWing beside him. _That other IceWing is definitely telling rumors about me,_ he thought, but decided to ignore it. There wasn't really anything that could bother Celsius, besides the fact of being betrayed, which only happened once in his life, but Celsius didn't like to talk this.

"Hey, Celsius," a voice called from behind, and Celsius turned his head slightly to see Ridge walk with him, side-by-side. "I just wanted to say good luck with Narwhal, he can be really tricky."

"I bet," Celsius responded, grinning. "But I can be trickier." The IceWing agent was looking at Ridge, but his fellow IceWing had an expression of doubt of his face. "Don't believe me?"

"Well... I haven't seen your, um, fighting style," Ridge explained while Celsius listened. "Also, you were from the seventh circle, so you probably don't have the quality fighting trainer that Narwhal has."

"Well, I guess that's all true, but there's on thing you should keep in mind," Celsius said, stopping in his tracks. A couple of IceWings glared at Celsius as they passed by, clearly not approving for what he did.

"What is it?"

"Looks can be deceiving." This was the only thing Celsius said, and Ridge thought about the phrase for a moment. By the time Ridge tried to ask what that meant, the IceWing agent was gone, off to his class. Celsius was smiling to himself due to how easily someone could become confused.

It was only a few minutes before Celsius made it to the training arena. The room was massive, that's for sure. The ceiling was ten dragons high and made out of ice. As Celsius looked around, he realized it was more like a stadium. Stands were placed around the massive arena, being seats for any IceWing who would spectate at these events. The fighting area was a big patch of snow, with red dyed ice circling around as the boundary.

 _Pretty cool,_ Celsius thought, then heard the faint sounds of footsteps. He turned around, just in time to see Glacier and the other IceWings come parading out the hallway and into the arena. The first look he got from Glacier was a skeptic, aware gaze from her eyes. Celsius knew that he was definitely going to be on her radar from that look, but decided to ignore it. It was only a few minutes of waiting before the bell rang and combat class began.

"Alright!" a voice yelled, grabbing the attention of even the IceWings who were bored out of their minds. "Today we are going to work on claw to claw combat on the arena! Rules are that there is no stabbing or deep slicing with claws. You will also fight until I say that the loser has had enough pain or the fighting has gone too long. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," the class responded in a strong voice. This seem to please the IceWing trainer, because he immediately picked the two first candidates. "Narwhal and Ridge, come up to the combat circle."

Not realizing that Ridge was besides Celsius, the IceWing agent looked at his friend, giving him a nod, and Ridge gave one back. From the other side of the combat circle, stood a IceWing, who was slightly bigger than Ridge, but most likely stronger, too.

 _Narwhal seems to take out his opponents with more brute strength than strategy,_ Celsius observed, frowning. This seemed to get Glacier's attention for some reason, mainly because he saw her scowling at him from the corner of his eye. _She probably thinks I'm underestimating her brother, and she's right._ Even though Ridge told Celsius that Narwhal was a tough opponent, it didn't seem like the same point of view to the IceWing agent.

Taking their positions, Celsius watched the two IceWings take on their different stances. Almost instantly, Celsius saw several flaws with the stances.

Even though Celsius studied that IceWings have the best fighting forms, what he saw in front of him was completely sloppy. _What do they train here?_ Celsius thought, wondering if he should talk to the trainer, but he would most likely be rejected and scolded for questioning the teacher's methods.

The first thing out of form was the wings. They were folded in, instead of keeping the body parts spread out. For one, this would make the enemy think that their IceWing opponent was much larger than they actually were. The form on that part made Celsius sick to the stomach, but he hid his disgust very well, even though it was hard to contain such a strong emotion.

There were a few more errors in the form, but they were all minor, and Celsius decided to focus on how they fought when in actual combat.

"Talons up. Teeth bared. Fight!"

Once the trainer gave the two IceWings permission to fight, the cheering from the spectating IceWings began to rise up. Most were cheering for Narhwhal, but only a few (including Glacier) were supporting Ridge.

 _So I guess that's who she likes,_ Celsius thought, then immediately mentally slapped himself. _Stop thinking like that! I'm only here to protect, not get invloved with anything else unless I have to._ Celsius then took mental notes as the first blow took place.

The first attack was from Narwhal, which was a very impressive move. It was a lunge towards Ridge's wings, and Celsius saw the same weakness Narwhal did.

From the looks of Ridge's form, the IceWing agent could understand why Narwhal was easily able to beat his opponent. One main weakness was that Ridge used his wings to much during the fighting. Flapping them back and forth, it was keeping the IceWing off-balanced and into more danger than what was there.

Narwhal grabbed Ridge's arm after Ridge tried to swipe at his opponent. Pulling Ridge's arm towards him, Narwhal caused Ridge to stumble forward, and there rest was history. With one easy blow to the face, Ridge then stumbled and fell back first, causing a silent moment within the stands. Celsius turned to look at the trainer, who just nodded in approval with no emotion.

Turning back to his friend in pain, Celsius studied the wounds of Ridge. The first thing he immediately saw was the ice, blue blood oozing from his nose. It trickled down his snout and face, and soon starting dripping to the ground when Frigid got up from the snowy ground.

 _Looks like Ridge broke the bones in the front of his snout,_ Celsius analyzed. Glacier must've of guessed the same thing, because she looked genuinely concerned for her friend, and soon gave a glare at the trainer, who received it clearly.

"Ridge, go to the medic and meet us back when they fix you up," the trainer said in a strong, confident voice. "I will then schedule a rematch between you and Narwhal." The trainer looked at Narwhal, who was looking at the claw that delivered the punch to Ridge's snout. "Now, who wants to duel Narwhal?"

The response was silent across the crowd of the young IceWings, who either looked nervous or scared to have the thought of battling the Prince of the IceWings.

The IceWing trainer looked disappointed by the result he was getting, and Celsius could tell that things were going to be a downhill spiral by the looks of the other IceWing students. They looked down at their claws or began chatting nervously with their friends, away from the hearing of their superior.

"Okay," the teacher's voice boomed, startling several IceWings. "Since you are all afraid of dueling another IceWing, we will fly around the Academy until class ends." Following the sentence were a series of groans and complaints. Celsius looked at Glacier, and she looked irritated at everyone around her, as if it was their fault for causing this to happen.

 _Hmm, time to show Narwhal how to properly fight,_ Celsius thought, a smirk growing on his face. "I'll duel Narwhal!"

Celsius knew that it would be crazy for any other IceWing to do it, which was the response from his class, but the IceWing Agent didn't care. Moving up to the trainer, Celsius made out a sign of approval from his current superior, and then made his way to the fighting ring.

The first reaction Celsius got from Narwhal was a hint of surprise, followed by respect shortly after. The IceWing Prince then made his way to the otherside of the circle, ignoring the fact that his friends were snickering on what they believe was Celsius' stupidity.

 _They believe I'm insane, and their theory is half true._ Celsius wasn't exactly sure why he was challenging the most fierce opponent in the Academy, but the IceWing Agent always liked a challenge. It gave Celsius a hint of excitement, something that he never got often, but it something for him to savior in a time like this.

Feeling the cold powdered snow on his claws, Celsius felt his mind sharpen as he analyzed every move Narhwhal made. Watching his stance, the IceWing agent saw every weakness and flaw Narwhal, so Celsius knew it was going to be an easy fight. His opponent also analyzed him, but was most likely not having any luck with any flaws. Celsius practiced his blocking and attaking to perfection, so there was no way he could lose.

Getting into his stance, Celsius spread his wings, and lowered his chest towards the ground, giving him room to launch for an attack. They next thing he heard was a murmur of confusion from some of the other IceWing students, but most just watched with curiousity, including the trainer. The teacher was frowning at him, most likely wandering why the hell Celsius was doing what he was right now.

Out of the corner of his eye, Celsius then saw Glacier, who was skeptic as ever. She was watching the IceWing agent, and didn't intend to stop gazing at what Celsius was doing. Celsius took this chance to use her precise watching and gave her a indirect grin, but Glacier immediately got the message. Instead of scowling at Celsius, Glaicer did something that caught the IceWing off guard. Celsius immediately saw the blush that formed on Glaicer's cheeks, and he finally knew that he was losing his mind.

"Talons up! Teeth bared! Fight!"

Celsius began circling around at the edge of the fighting circle as he began to think of an attack plan. The pieces of plan connected in his brain while he watched Narwhal, who was about to attack. The next thing Celsius knew was Narwhal's first attack coming into play.

Time slowed for Celsius as Narwhal tried to rake Celsius's face from the right as Celsius rolled to the left, avoiding the attack. Celsius then used his tail to hit Narwhal's back leg, and it was a hit. Narwhal let out a shout of pain and tried to use his tail to land a blow on Celsius, but Celsius was already out of range. Then, Narwhal tried to ran towards Celsius and lunged to grab him, and Celsius knew this fight was victorious for him.

Almost immediately after Narwhal lunged, Celsius used his tail and bound his opponent's two claws together, as if he was cuffing the IceWing Prince. Celsius then pulled his tail towards him, causing Narwhal to stumble forward, right into Celsius's trap. The IceWing unwrapped his tail around Narwhal, only to grab the IceWing Prince and throw him out of the ring a good ten feet. The IceWing Prince landed, unfortunately, on his wing, crushing it underneath his weight. The IceWing Prince yelped in pain as the crowd of IceWing students gasped in surprise. The trainer immediately ran over to the hurt IceWing and checked the crushed wing with worry and anxiety.

Celsius walked over to Narwhal as well, but the IceWing Prince growled at him, causing Celsius to take a step back.

"Thanks for crushing my wing," the IceWing growled. He tried to stand up, but gasped in pain, and the trainer forced him down onto the floor with his belly on the ground. "Now I'll to walk to palace."

"Um, sorry?" Celsius suggested, but Narwhal just hissed at him. "Besides, that wound is minor, you should be fine in about a week."

He got a surprised response from not only Narwhal, but the trainer as well. He looked up at the undercovered IceWing agent in curiousity, but didn't ask him anything about how he knew, to Celsius's relief.

The bell then ringed, signaling the end of class, and the end of the event that just happened. Celsius sighed as he went back to the stands where he placed his bag. As he went up the steps, each time making a low, short sound of banging metal against metal. Once he picked up his bag, he felt a claw grab his arm, alerting him of a enemy. He immediately grabbed the wrist of his supposed enemy and looked at him, but it wasn't a him at all.

It was the IceWing Princess, Glacier, and Celsius immediately let go of her wrist. At first, Celsius just supposed that he was going to be met with a furious expression. As he looked up to meet Glacier's face, he saw the exact opposite of what he expected.

Glacier's face was shocked, but underneath the amount of surprise she showed, there was a small blush on her cheek. It was only a instant before the blush disappeared, and the only expression she showed was suppressed anger.

Instead of being shocked like a few second ago, she was now scowling at Celsius, but the IceWing Agent had that image printed in his mind, now and forever.

"Follow me," was all she said, before stalking off, taking another exit outside the stadium.

 _What is she up to?_ Celsius thought, but shrugged it off. This was the chance he was looking for and he couldn't let it go to waste. He hurried after the IceWing Princess and soon caught up, walking side by side with her. She was very serious, but also very relieved at the same time, even though her face was hard to read.

 _Thank the moons for the agent training,_ Celsius thought, then realized that Glacier slowed down, and he complied. Walking at a slow speed, Glacier then tapped Celsius, and they turned down the road, away from the Academy, and towards the palace.

The sun shone brightly in the sky as the pair of IceWings walked, now passing members of their tribe as the city came into view. They moved on slowly, looking slowly at their surroundings, well, more Glaicer than Celsius.

This triggered a series of events in Celsius's mind. _What is she worried about, and why is she taking me so far from the Academy?_ Celsius frowned at the IceWing Princess, but decided it was best if he waited for her to start talking. He waited patiently as she continued to look around for another minute, trying to find any sign of whatever she was worried.

After a long minute of waiting, she then looked back at Celsius, and gazed into his eyes. This startled the IceWing, as if she was looking right through him.

"So tell me, what type of stance was that?" She asked curiously. "And how exactly did you best my brother?"

 **Done, and I'm super sorry for not updating for three weeks, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I will do my best to keep on track for updating stories, but High School is keeping me busy.**

 **Anyways, I'm sorry for being inactive and I want to thank you all for being patient with me**

 **Zmike**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello readers, been busy with homework. Anyways, let's head into the chapter**

 **Glacier**

"I beg your pardon?" Celsius asked Glacier, which only made the IceWing Princess irritated. Glacier made a low growl, which caused Celsius to go alert for a brief moment, before relaxing.

 _What is with this IceWing?_ Glacier was asking a bunch of questions to herself as she analyzed Celsius, who just waited for her to respond.

Slowly growing annoyed, Glacier then explained to Celsius. "How did you do that? Where did you get your training?"

"I trained myself," Celsius responded bluntly, which only angered Glacier even more. "Ever since I knew how to walk, I've been working to the extreme, exhausting myself until I had no energy to go on!"

"I want the truth!" Glacier exclaimed, and Celsius's expression darkened.

"Do you think I'm lying!" Celsius demanded from the IceWing Princess, raising his voice. "I worked hard for my entire life, and I don't believe I should be judged by some royal figure that's just jealous of me!"

This really set the IceWing Princess off. "Jealous! Jealous!?" Glacier yelled at Celsius. "You think I'm jealous of you!"

"It looks like it from my point of view. It's either that or you're secretly drooling over my handsome looks," Celsius answered Glacier, sending her into a rage, causing herself to lunge at Celsius, her arms extended towards him. As if expecting this, Celsius already had his claws on one of her arms.

The next thing Glacier knew was that her eyes were wide with surprise, and she was pinned to the ground with Celsius on top of here. He was no longer the friendly face Glacier had seen the minutes before. Now, he was full of rage and disappointment, as if he was one of the teachers judging him.

"Wha-how?"

Celsius didn't answer, but only got off the IceWing Princess and started off in his own direction. Shocked by what just happened, Glacier just watched him stalk off. The IceWing Princess then suddenly felt grief come over her, even though she didn't know where it came from. She wanted to go over to the new IceWing and apologize, but she figured that it wouldn't help the situation.

 _What did I just do?_ Glacier thought to herself. Instead of answering, she startled herself by having no clue what she did. The IceWing Princess then headed off back to the IceWing Palace and decide how she felt toward Celsius. Right now, she was definitely having mixed feelings about the new IceWings, and this also surprised her.

 _I definitely don't like him, do I? Why am I questioning myself! I don't like him at all, he cheated his way up the standings somehow. Why would I like a cheater?_ Glacier continued to pound herself with stupid questions, not realizing that one of her friends was walking beside her. Her friend waited a minute, and Glaicer still didn't know of her presence.

"Hey there, Princess," Iceflow said finally, causing Glacier to jump in surprise. "How did your conversation go?" Glacier had her eyes widened in surprise that she let her guard down like that.

"What?"

"You heard me," Iceflow smirked. "Like I heard your conversation."

"You heard all of that!?" Glacier exclaimed, before immediately knowing that she fell into Iceflow's trap.

Iceflow nodded, grinning "Why are you lying about not liking him?" Glacier glowered at her friend in annoyance, but Iceflow didn't seem to notice, or even care. "Don't try to scare."

"Why do you think I like him? Even though I don't," Glacier asked her friend, who just laughed. They turned the corner at the neighborhood and headed towards the city. As they headed to the urban area, IceWings began to appear on the streets. They were going about their daily routine; some where mingling while others, like soldiers, were patrolling the area.

 _Why are there patrols all of a sudden?_ Glacier thought to herself, but quickly lost the thought when Iceflow started talking again.

"First off, you never attacked anyone, _ever,_ " Iceflow began. "It also looked like you attacked him in denial, but you were lying because your anger showed it."

"Pssh," Glacier responded. "Why would I attack Celsius if I did have feelings for him. Even though I don't." She gazed at Iceflow briefly, and her friend was hesitating. "Exactly." Glacier continued on her way, but Iceflow then interrupted her.

"Because you have stronger feelings than I thought," Iceflow remarked, causing Glacier to freeze and turn around. "You definitely showed something strong, and it wasn't anger." Glacier then felt her temper snap, and she stomped off to the palace. "No need to thank me!"

 _Why is this even important!?_ Glacier was thinking furiously on a way to get rid of the new IceWing. _There is no way I like him! Is there?_

Glacier growled at the thought of second guessing herself as she continued to walk down the street. Her jewelry glittered in the sunlight, catching the eyes of several male IceWings. They peeked at her before pretending to do something else when she glared at them.

 _I just need time to think,_ Glacer thought, finally taking off towards the palace, which she was hesitant to do for some reason. _Celsius is getting into my head: it's worse than I thought._

 **(* * *)**

Glacier had been thinking for an hour straight, not touching the plate of dead penguin that was sent up to her room on her mother's request. Sighing, Glacier continued to think of ways to banish Celsius from IceWing Kingdom, but each one was shot down by illogical reasoning.

 _What if I really do like him?_ Glacier thought for a good minute, before suddenly getting the fearful at the idea of falling for a IceWing. It would make her look weak, submissive, and Glacier hated the idea of that. She clenched her talons into fists and bared her teeth, trying to remove the thought of being mates with a disgusting dragon. _Keep thinking of ideas, Glacier; you will find a way._

She began thinking of more ways, but was interrupted when the door opened, and a IceWing with a 5th circle necklace poked his head around the door.

"Yes?" Glacier asked, waiting for the IceWing to respond.

"The Queen has requested your presence in the throne room, immediately," the servant said, bowing to the IceWing Princess. "She was in a rushed mood, your majesty."

"Yes, thank you," Glacier nodded to the servant, who then closed the door to go back to his daily business. Getting out of the frozen ice bed she was laying on, Glacier then forced herself to cheer up before going into the public walkways, where each passing IceWing would get a general idea of her character. "I wonder what you want now, mother."

Walking down the dim lit hallways on the palace, Glacier focused her view on the road ahead of her, but looked at the fine detail of the walls and ceiling of the hallway. The pillars placed every four dragon lengths had a unique design sketched into their icy form, giving lots of detail and idea of what the IceWings could do in architecture.

The ceiling was a whole different story; it had figures of dragons walking, running, fighting, dancing, etc. This awed Glacier every time she looked at the ceiling. Each picture was telling a story of her ancestry, and the IceWing Princess was eager to learn more.

Feeling the light touch of her necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, Glacier knew she was prepared to meet her mother in the throne room. Walking down the Grand Staircase, servants and soldiers bowed to the Princess as she walked past them. Two of the Royal Guards took a side on Glacier's left and right, escorting her down to the throne room.

The throne room was like a fort on its own. Being guarded by the best trained soldiers in the kingdom, Glaicer knew that nothing could ever threaten the Queen while her presence was in here. The main doors were guarded by six of the most skilled IceWings, either being newly trained or experienced for a while, nothing could get past them. There were also two snipers placed on the roof of the palace at all times, expertly hidden out of view for anyone enemy that tried to infiltrate into the palace. Each window connecting to the throne was guarded by two Royal Guards: this area was considered a safe haven for all royal members of the family.

One of the six Royal Guards nodded and opened the main doors, revealing that it was just only the Queen, and to Glaicer's slight surprise, her brother. Her mother had a solemn face, while Narwhal just stood there respectfully in the formal stance. Queen Aurora just watch Glacier approach her, before finally speaking.

"My daughter, I need you to do this one thing for me tonight," the Queen of the IceWingd announced as the doors then closed, leaving the three IceWing to themselves.

"Whatever you need, mother," Glacier respectfully responded.

"Good," the Queen said in approval, "I know you are questioning the new IceWing recruit's performance?" Glacier nodded. "I am also impressed on how easily he was to defeat my son." Narwhal growled, but soon stopped when the Queen looked at him sternly. "I believe that you need to stop worrying about the things I need to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to treat the recruit, Celsius, as an equal from now on. No threatening him to talk unless he is hiding something very vital to our knowledge." The queen was now pacing around the throne room, while Glaicer watched. "I need you to give him a fair chance, just as Narwhal had agreed to do."

Glacier looked at Narwhal as if he was mad. "You?"

"Well, I was quite mad when my wing was crushed," he responded, showing his casted wing. "But I realized that maybe he could help me with my training, make me a even bigger threat to our enemies."

"No, I'm very sure that he is hiding something, something that could be a threat to us," Glacier announced, looking at her mother. Glacier expected her mother to be annoyed, but she just sighed and began out of the room.

"I will not take the new IceWing trainee into questioning just because you have a 'bad' feeling about him," Queen Aurora told Glacier. "And under any circumstances, you will not go over and interrogate the dragon." She then walked out of the room, and it began to close, just in time to see two guards escort the Queen of the IceWings to her next destination.

"Sister," Narwhal began, "I have a weird feeling about him, too, but don't let it cloud your thoughts. You need to be strong for the other dragons. Moons, your going to be a leader, and a great one at that."

"Yes. . . I guess so," Glacier responded.

"Well, maybe until Tundra has a way to take the throne from you."

Glacier whirled her head at Narwhal, eyes turned into slits. Narwhal eyes widened for a second as Glacier approached him. She stared down the IceWing Prince as the dragon began backing up towards the walls. "You will not marry that IceWing."

"It's too late," Narwhal said sheepishly. "Mother has already organized the marriage as soon as we're done with the rankings. She said it would give them a powerful political figure that would aid the future queen."

"Are you saying-?"

"Yes, you two might have to be allies, or even friends, which I see as very unlikely," Narwhal muttered the last part. Glacier began to boil with rage, stomping out of the throne room and pushing the doors wide open. The guards reacted by standing straight up in a military stance. Glaicer didn't bother to relieve them of the stance, due to being in too much of a mood to shred an dragon to pieces.

 _Mother really organized that! She clearly doesn't know how we behave around each other._ Glacier thought of the fact that Tundra would be an adviser, and growled deeply. She rushed into her room, only to see that it was already night time. _Just perfect, a completely dark room. Now time to think about how Tundra will be a threat._

The IceWing Princess walked over and lied down on her icy bed that was covered with a new sheet of snow, giving Glacier the short memory of comfort when she was tied around something. Closing her eyes, Glacier began to relax, but then felt something strange. She couldn't quite understand, but to her, she felt like as if she was being watched by someone or something. The feeling was strong, and so was her gut, and it had never failed her before.

Glacier opened her eyes, and looked at the one place where she could spied on, and she immediately became alert. She grabbed one of the moonlight plants and swung it towards her balcony. As light began to emerge onto the balcony, Glacier got a glance of an IceWing tail, and the intruder was flying away astonishingly fast. The IceWing Princess gasped in surprise, before scrambling towards her bedroom door.

 _What is going on?_ Glacier thought, terrified for the first time in a long while. The only thing that terrified her this much was her uncle's rage, and Glacier hasn't seen him a while. She soon began wondering what happened to her uncle, but the thought soon disappeared when her room door opened and a guard stood in the exit.

"Your Majesty, I heard excessive movement in the room," the guard explained. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I came in to see if everything was alright."

"Yes. . . Yes, everything is alright," Glacier responded, "you are relieved." The guard nodded and closed the door, leaving Glacier alone for the rest of the night.

Even though she felt safe in the palace, Glacier was still frightened beyond her mind. This feeling of fear made her angry at herself for being weak, but she didn't care too much. Instead of shrugging off the recent event like she would always do, she was too shook up to forget. In the first time in her life, Glacier was actually afraid for her life.

 **(* * *)**

Glacier was awake for the whole night, unable to get rest. The IceWing Princess was alert for any danger that was around, and she felt too exhausted to stay awake, only to see that it was morning. _Great, mother it going to expect me to be active for the whole day,_ Glacier thought, getting off her bed and walking over to her dresser, which was entirely composed of ice. Opening one of the shelves, Glacier got out her most fashionable and menacing pieces of jewelry: her diamond and silver necklace with sapphire gems in the center of each design.

She attached the necklace around her elegant neck, and her diamond and sapphire earrings hung from her ears, dangling with the slightest movement.

Nodding to herself after completing the simple task, Glacier then walked out of her bedroom, and made her way down to the throne room, where her mother would be waiting for her. Closing the bedroom door after her, Glacier moved along the icy hallways with two guards; one on either side of her, ensuring her safety. Smiling, Glacier felt safe for once since she saw the intruder fly off.

She wasn't sure if the intruder was a threat or a scout from her mother, Glacier would find the answer by what her mother says. _Hopefully it was an order from mother,_ Glacier though, _I don't want things to escalate further._ Then there was one tiny, impossible thought that somehow came into her head. _What if it was the new dragon?_ It was possible, but Glacier was doubting it. Celsius didn't know of the palace defenses, then amount of guards the fortified the palace one by one. He couldn't know of where the snipers were to get by them, there has never been a single intruder that made it inside the inner defensive walls. All accounts of attempts were that they were taken out by the snipers, or were overwhelmed by the sentries.

Glacier soon took the thought as an impossible one, for the new dragon wouldn't be able to get _this_ close to the palace without being spotted. The IceWing Princess made her way down the Grand Staircase with the supervisement of the guards, which she didn't complain about. Every Royal Guard knew of how Glacier got irritated with being helped with the smallest things, and they didn't dare anger her, for the Queen of the IceWings would see punishment for the victim who didn't know this.

Then moving to the throne room, Glacier swayed her tail nervously, and growled at herself. She was never nervous when meeting her mother, why now? Stopping the swaying of her tail, Glacier moved through the doors, and the guards stayed outside to guard the one place that could never be infiltrated.

Looking up from the blueprints on the table in front of her, Queen Aurora saw her daughter coming forward and gave a small smile. "Hello Glacier, you sleep well?"

"Yes, Mother," Glacier responded, giving herself the urge to not yawn, but she knew that it would happen, sooner or later. "You wanted to speak with me today?"

"Yes," the queen responded, "today is the day to celebrate those who have stayed in the third circle and above, and I'm proud of you for being an idol to all those young IceWings." Glacier smiled, proud of herself. "Now, I'll need to tell you a few things before the celebration begins in a few hours."

"I'm listening, Mother."

"For one, do not worry about tonight. Just be yourself and mingle with your fellow IceWings, and possibly flirt with a few males," the queen said, giving off a small laugh, and flustering Glacier a bit. "Second, this party will be heavily guarded, so no threat will be able to penetrate through our defenses."

Glaicer then thought of the intruder she saw last night, and began to think otherwise. The queen noticed this, unfortunately for Glacier. "What is it, daughter?"

"Oh! It's just, well, I've been thinking of ways to strengthen our palace, but I'm sure you would want to hear them after the celebration," Glacier responded, and this seemed to be enough for the queen.

"That reminds me! Third," Queen Aurora began, "do not be afraid, because nothing can go wrong and nothing will happen at this celebration."

"Nothing at all."

 **Hello readers! Sorry for being behind, but school calls and I had to serve detention. :/**

 **Anyways enjoy the chapter and I will see you later.**

 **\- Zmike**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! I just want to thank you all for being super patient, even though I was at fault for not having an update in a long time. Anyways, let me cut the chat and let's focus on the story.**

 **Celsius**

Walking through the dark streets of the night, Celsius cautiously made his way towards the palace, where the celebration of the inner-circle IceWing cadets was going to take place. He scanned the buildings around him, looking for any misplacements to tell him that something was wrong.

So far, everything was clear.

Even though it seemed like this, Celsius was on edge. He knew that a assassination attempt was going to happen, but he was going to stop it. He had a earpiece and mouthpiece to use for assistance at any time: there were a few agents in the IceWing Kingdom ready to help Celsius is needed. He was thankful for Frost, too, who would help him through the mission tonight.

The IceWing agent then made his was slowly towards the building he had predicted that would hold the assassins, ready to kill the queen. _I won't let that happen,_ Celsius thought to himself. _I can't let chaos spread in the kingdom._

The IceWing agent then realized that he was suppose to be at the celebration, but quickly shrugged it off. He knew that no one was very friendly around him, besides a few kind-hearted IceWings he met at the Advanced Academy.

Celsius' wings dropped as he thought of being an outsider to the rest of the tribe, a tribe that he didn't have the chance to live in until now. He wanted to be just like his tribe: fierce, loyal, brave, and tactical. If that was to happen, though, he would need to graduate from the academy, then he would become a citizen of the kingdom.

In the distance, he could hear the sound of music coming from the celebration. He could also see the variety of colors provided by the moon globes. This told him that everything was still fine, even though his time was limited at any instance.

 _Focus on the mission,_ he mentally slapped himself, causing him to look up and analyze the building that was suppose to contain the assassins.

Celsius kept his attention, looking for any signs of forced entry to indicate that they were here, but there was nothing so far. Feeling doubt rise up in his chest, he was about to walk towards the next possible building, but stopped himself when he saw two IceWings inside the building.

The two IceWings were holding automatic weapons, but didn't have any sign of armor from the IceWing guard. Celsius then realised that they were not from the guard, but were against the queen. One of them was patrolling the inner rooms while the other looked through the glass, trying to find any intruders trying to catch them by surprise.

Celsius frowned at the situation. _Interesting, seems to me they're trying to protect something._

 _Or someone._

"Agent Frigid, this is Special Agent Celsius reporting in," Celsius whispered from his mouth piece from behind a barrier to the building. "I have sights on two hostiles. Best course of action needed."

"Roger that, Agent Celsius. Best course of action is silent take out to keep your position safe from enemies. Remember, neutralizing is necessary for these terrorists," Frigid replied over the comm in Celsius' ear. "There is a side exit where you can easily pick the lock and advance undetected."

"Copy that."

Celsius moved slowly, his stomach on the ground as he crawled next to the barrier, keeping him out of sight by the two hostile IceWings, who seemed to be having a small discussion. The IceWing agent moved quickly, his body scraping across the barren ground as he crawled quickly across the ground, his wings wrapped around himself to conceal his position. He soon became out of the view for the two terrorists. Having his pistol with a suppressor attachment on it, he used a pick to quickly unlock the door and move in quietly, where his enemies were only a few feet away from him. Celsius knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against both of them, so he waited for the two IceWings to split into different rooms.

"Keep patrolling for any of the IceWing guard patrols tonight," one of the IceWings told his other. "Make sure you kill anyone who sees us, too."

"What about the Elite Guard?" the other asked nervously. "What if they find us? You know we have no chance against them."

"Imbecile," the first Icewing growled. "That's why we have our two elite brothers on the outside of the building. The Elite guard will have a difficult time dealing with them, but right now, you focus on your job."

The second IceWing nodded, and they both split their ways, each going into a seperate room. Celsius knew this was his chance, so he quickly followed the second IceWing in the room, and took out his Karambit knife. The enemy IceWing didn't stand a chance when Celsius grabbed him by the head a slit his throat in a professional manner.

Celsius then took out silently to the other IceWing, who was admiring the art in the room. Celsius quickly took him by surprise and slit his throat as well. The IceWing fell to the ground, a quick a painless death that acted as a gift. The IceWing agent then moved both of the corpses to the outside of the building.

It wasn't Celsius' first time doing this, as he recalled of the time he went undercover for a SandWing terror cell that was recruiting all kinds of dragons to fight for them. He remembered silently neutralizing each and every guard at the hidden fortress in the desert, then executing the ringleader, ending the evil group by cutting off its head.

Celsius knew he was doing this for the right cause, and that's all he needed to know that he was doing the right thing by killing a hostile to save hundreds of lives. The IceWing agent then slowly walked up the stairs, having his silenced pistol out. He was looking for any hidden hostiles ready to kill him.

After moving up the first flight of stairs, Celsius couldn't hear any sounds of talonsteps of tails dragging across the floor, meaning that coast was clear and he could move up. Moving up each to the next floor, though, Celsius' heart still pumped in fear that his life could end with a wrong move. Then again, he was ready to die to protect the innocents of Pyrrhia.

He repeated the same process as he scaled the building. Celsius turned to watch his back every half minute, making sure that no one was sneaking up on him. It was soon to realize, that no one was going to be on the floors which contained no view of the celebration whatsoever.

"Agent Frost," Celsius spoke in his mouthpiece, "can you hack into one of the cameras in the other tower to get a view of any room on the side of the Inner-circle Celebration?"

"Affirmative," Frigid replied, hearing a few types coming from the agent's keyboard. "I see two IceWings on floor 19, armed with a spotting and a Hecate II sniper rifle."

"Are they trying to rip the Queen's head off?" Celsius asked, clearly alarmed at the news. He then moved his pace faster, being a little more reckless with his floor sweeping.

Celsius knew that the Hecate II Sniper Rifle held a .50 caliber bullet that could easily neutralize a target from a mile away. In fact, he knew the bullet was capable on blowing a limb, the torso, or the head off upon a half second of impact. It was a very dangerous weapon, with an even more dangerous bullet.

"It appears so, and it looks like you don't have too much time left," Frigid informed him. "It looks like they're prepared to assasinate the queen in a few minutes. My guess is that they're waiting to do it when all the loyal IceWings are witnessing it."

Celsius nodded, doubling his efforts to get up the 19th floor before it was too late for him and the rest of the tribe. It wasn't until a few moments that he ran into another enemy, a guard patrolling by himself, thankfully. Celsius quickly clamped the IceWing terrorist's snout shut before he called to warn the assassins. He then proceded to stab him in the abdomen, then in the chest to ensure that IceWing died a painless, swift end.

When the IceWing agent looked at the door leading to the entire level of floor 19, he placed his one claw on the door, and the other on his gun, ready to face any attackers waiting for him. Clutching the firearm even tighter, he slowly opened the door, and poked his head around the corner, where he mentally cursed himself for moving poking his head around so clumsily. Luckily, there seemed to be no intruders, but through one of the glass rooms, he could see to dragon figures laying on the ground.

One of the figures was holding a large, long barreled weapon sitting on a bipod. The weapon had a large scope and stock that was dug into the dragon's shoulder, waiting for the IceWing to shoot the round that would have chaos ensue.

The other figure had a pair of large binoculars, which seemed to have a multiple buttons on the top and sides of the device. Celsius immediately knew that it was military issued spotting binoculars used by the Elite IceWing Royal Guard. He learned about them during his time being educated by NightChaser and various instructors of Pyrrhia Police. They were the most accurate when it came to hitting targets from very long ranges, like two miles. Celsius knew that it was a guarantee if they used this for the assassination, the queen would die for sure.

Slowly, Celsius made his way towards the two assassins, taking each step as quietly as possible. He was there after a few short steps, took out his Karambit knife (which has blood splatter on it) and had his sharps talons extended as well. The pieces for the synchronized takeout were put together, and Celsius made his move against the two assassins.

Swiftly bringing his knife down with tons of force behind it, the blade of the knife went into the sniper's back, and into his heart. There was only a small yell of agony, before he went silent for good.

The other IceWing heard this and turned around, only to meet Celsius' claw meet his throat, slitting it in a matter of a second. The enemy buckled his legs and went down, lifeless on the carpet ground that being stained by his blue blood.

Celsius felt a hint of accomplishment, and so did his fellow agent, who was cheering on through the earpiece.

"Well done, Celsius," Frigid said through the earpiece. "The targets are neutralized, the queen is safe for the night, now come back so we can celebrate."

"Not yet," Celsius told his friend through the mouthpiece. "Something doesn't feel right to me." Scanning through the dark rooms, Celsius felt uneasy on what the future was stored for him, particulary tonight. He didn't how to describe it, but something just felt _off_ to him.

"Dude, the queen is safe, you executed the targets for treason and attempted murder," Frigid told him. "They were going to kill the queen with all her subjects' eyes on her."

"But how did they know?" Celsius asked Frigid, and to himself. "My friend at the academy told me that no one knew the schedule of the celebration, when the queen was going to make a speech, nothing. The only thing they heard was that the celebration was tonight."

Celsius rushed over and took the sniper out of the dead IceWing's claws and set it a few feet away from the corpses. He looked through the scope, which zoomed in on the crowd of IceWings, the servants, the Royal guards next to the queen, and her majesty. Everything seemed normal, but Celsius' heart was racing with panick. _Had he missed something? Was there another part of the enemy's plan that he didn't know about? Was the plan to execute the Queen of the IceWings still in play?_

"Celsius, calm down," Frigid told the IceWing agent, as if reading his thoughts. "I'm sure the queen is-"

"Well, I'm not," Celsius replied, continueing to look through the scope for any threats. "Someone told them about the schedule they were going to have tonight. Someone _has_ to be on the inside, someone who has the trust of the queen."

"What is that suppose to mean then?" Frigid asked, clearly confused on where this was going. Celsius scanned the crowd one more time before at the dragons around the Queen of the IceWings, including the guards.

"I'm saying this is way bigger than what any of us had expected, even the high office at headquarters. This is not only a problem we have to deal with as the continent police, but this problem could turn into an all-out war with the two factions of IceWings: those loyal to the Queen and those who refuse a monarchy."

"Are you sure it's gotten this out of hand?"

"Positive, but it's been kept in the dark, even from us. I have a feeling that there's a dragon with a big political role in the tribe that's running this, but I don't know who."

"Should I inform the headquarters about this?" Frigid asked, a little anxious at the sound of Celsius' theory.

"Affirmative."

Celsius heard the fumbling of the headset Frost was wearing before hearing the IceWing closing a door. The IceWing agent then knew that he was on his own until his friend got back, which would be a little while. Celsius then slowly scanned the area with the scope he was looking through, this time catching something suspicious, and terrifying.

The guard on the queen's left side was looking directly at Celsius, which caused goosebumps to form on his scales. Then, he put a talon to a small earpierce he was wearing and spoke.

"Hail, what are you doing? Take the shot already," a voice, which was the guard's, announced. Celsius held his breath, not responding and keeping his crosshairs on the guard, who was secretly a terrorist.

What seemed like minutes passed by before the guard started movement again. Celsius saw him suspiciously grab something off his tactical belt, and the surface of the object shone light in Celsius' direction.

 _Knife,_ Celsius thought, his talon on the trigger, ready to take the shot. The guard made no movement, but looked around his surroundings to make sure no one was looking at him. When the guard (terrorist) saw that the close was clear, he brought the knife back from his side, about to push it forward, into Queen Aurora's vulnerable backside.

 _Gotcha._

Celsius pulled the trigger, which a loud, earpiercing gunshot filled the air, causing the crowd of IceWing cadets and citizens go dead silent for a split second. The IceWing agent also witness the bullet hit the poor guard's head, going between his eyes, spraying blood into the air milliseconds later. The betraying guard then fell back, off the lifted platform, and onto the solid ground.

Immediately screams and shouts from the crowd erupted, causing the massive group to move in an unorderly, chaotic way. Celsius couldn't blame them, though, for he would've been the same way if he heard a gunshot, followed by a killed dragon.

The IceWing agent also said a few curses, realizing that there was no silencer on the sniper to begin with. Celsius took the gun with him, not wanting the IceWing guard to find his DNA on the gun. As soon as he turned his head, he saw two IceWings, each holding an automatic weapon. As soon as they exchange looks with each other, the two enemies pointed their guns at Celsius

 _Shit_

They opened fired on the IceWing agent, and he dove for cover behind one of the pillars in the main room they were in. He covered his head as bullets hit the ice pillar, causing shards of the frozen water to fly in the air, hitting Celsius painfully.

Retaliating with the previous bullets flying towards him, Celsius quickly moved around the pillar and hipfire the sniper rifle, which jerked his arms back, due to the massive recoil. His arms stung with pain from firing it, but it was better than being shot, much less killed.

The terrorists' response to that was simple: another wave of bullet fire. Celsius took cover behind a office desk he flipped, waiting for the lead rain to stop.

Once it did, Celsius got out from his cover and ran right, towards the exit. Before he could analyze the situation though, he could hear a pair of rolling wheels. He then looked towards the origin of the sound, which was a desk moving too fast for him dodge. Taking a hit from the wooden desk, Celsius was launched back, hearing the shattering of a window.

He expected shards of glass slicing through his scales, which they did, but he also felt wind blowing on his back. It was only a second before he realized that he was plummeting towards the ground, his face to the sky.

Celsius tried to flip his back so that he was facing the ground, but his wings refused to listen, as the kept him from turning through the air. His wings and tail were dragging through the air, bending towards the sky as he fell. It wasn't until long that Celsius knew he was falling to his death.

And there was nothing he could do to prevent it from happening.

 **Hello readers, I just hope you enjoy this chapter, even though I got it out in a couple days instead of a few. I also want to pronounce a disclaimer that I do not own the picture as the title of the story. The credits for the beautiful picture rightfully go to the owner, who is a fantastic artist.**

 **Before I leave, I want to inform you guys on the update schedule I will be trying to keep for the rest of my writing days.**

 **I plan on updating every 2-3 days, it just depends on how busy I am, but I plan two update each story at least once every week, no matter what. This means I stay up from 9:30 P.M. - 12:30 A.M. a night to finish or type halfway through a chapter, if you didn't know that. There will be times when I don't update at least twice a week, but I will inform you when something is coming up when this happens.**

 **Anyways, goodbye and see you in the next chapter**

 **-Zmike**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notice: This chapter takes place around the same time Celsius is on his mission.**

 **Glacier**

The night was fabulous, and was so the celebration. The decorations mother had placed across the courtyard made the celebration ten times more vibrant. The different colored moon globes (Glacier had no idea how the Queen got different colors) made the ground and the dragons on it boom with a gleeful mood.

Glacier could see and hear jewelry as she walked through the massive crowd of partying dragons. Most of jewelry worn was by the IceWing dragonesses, who were like jewels around the male IceWings, shining through the crowd with the utmost confidence and determination.

Glacier herself was wearing a silver and diamond necklace, two silver arm bracelets, and two sapphire and diamond earrings. Every IceWing she met complimented on how well she looked, and she accepted it gratefully, wanting to be seen as a queen who listens to her followers.

As she continued to stroll through the crowd, mingling with other dragons, she bumped into her friend. They both turned to meet each other's gazes and exchanged friendly expressions to one another after realizing who they ran into.

"Glacier!" Ptarmigan shouted, wrapping her friend into a hug. "It's good to see you! I didn't think we would've found each through this crowd." She unwrapped her wings and gestured to the massive crowd of dancing dragons.

"I guess destiny brought us together," Glacier joked, and Ptarmigan let out a laugh. The two dragonesses started talking to each, explaining how their day had gone. Ptarmagin explained how all she did today was shop and find the right jewelry to wear for the celebration.

Glacier then told her about what happened for her. She explained the talk she had with her mother. The IceWing Princess told her friend how her brother was actually impressed with Celsius in the way he fought.

Ptarmigan frowned, "Anyways, where is your boyfriend?"

"I haven't seen him- he's not my boyfriend!" Glacier growled at her friend, becoming annoyed at the sound of being in any relationship with the dragon that she despises. "Can you stop with that now!"

Ptarmigan only sighed before responding. "Why don't you just give him a chance? I mean moons, if your brother is okay with him, shouldn't you be, too?"

"I still have my suspicions about him. Think about it though-"

"Here we go again."

"-how does he just come out into the third circle after a week of attending the Advanced Academy." Ptarmigan shrugged to answer, only to make Glacier ponder on the question for a minute.

"Well," Glacier's friend began, "how about we leave that discussion to rest for now and go celebrate with our friends."

"How are we going to find them in this crowd?" Glacier asked.

"Follow me." Ptarmigan took off in a certain direction, and Glacier followed her lead, as much as she hated to follow. It was responsibility to lead her tribe, and this felt like it was mocking her.

Instantly, Glacier regretted thinking that; her friend was only trying to get them somewhere, and here she was, insulting her friend. The IceWing Princess didn't know why she hated being a follower just to have some guidance, but she knew it was totally unacceptable when it came to hurting her friends. _Think of how grateful you are to have friends,_ Glacier scolded herself in her mind. _Some dragons have completely lost trust from theirs._

It was only a few minutes of making their way through the crowd before the two dragonesses made it to the rest of their friends. The first dragon to greet Glacier was Iceflow, who just gave the IceWing Princess a toothy smile. Ridge was next, giving her a friendly hug followed by Reindeer shaking her claw. Glacier smiled at her four friends, who were already chatting how their experience with the celebration was going.

"If this is what it's like for a Welcoming Celebration," Reindeer began, "then I can't wait for graduation party."

"Reindeer! That's still four years away," Ridge exclaimed. "You might not be passing graduation!" This earned the laughs of the three female dragons and a chuckle from Reindeer.

"I can always dream, Ridge."

"I'm with Reindeer on this one," Iceflow said, staggering a bit. "I can't wait what will be at the graduation, especially drinks!" Glacier's friend held a cup, as if trying to get a toast from the four others.

"How much have you had," Ptarmigan asked curiously.

"Only a few," Iceflow responded.

"That's a load of dead scales," Ridge interjected, turning her head to Ptarmigan. "She's had about four or five."

"Iceflow!" Ptarmigan shouted at her friend, who also dropped her drink to the sudden noise. "I told you that too much alcohol isn't good for you!" In responds to this, Iceflow waved off her companion, taking another long gulp from her cup, making the group laugh.

"She's going to be drunk at this point," Glacier told Ridge, leaning over to him. "Who's going to take her home tonight?"

"Actually," Iceflow interrupted, clearly hearing their conversation. "I was thinking us girls could have an after party after this celebration." Ptarmigan rolled her eyes at the thought of that. Glacier, on the other claw, shivered at the thought of a drunken Iceflow continueing to party through the night.

"No," Glacier told her friend bluntly, shooting down the request. "However, you are welcome to stay overnight if you don't feel like flying home tonight."

"I agree with Glacier," Ptarmigan jumping in, agreeing with the IceWing Princess, "but, maybe we can do a little bit more partying, dancing perhaps?"

"I'm in!" Reindeer immediately shouted, grabbing Ptarmigans claws as he pulled her aside, starting to dance. Glacier looked at her two friends, who were having the times of their life: laughing and shouting in excitement and glee.

Glacier then turned back to her two friends, but noticed that Iceflow was gone (probably getting another drink). She met eyes with Ridge, who extended his claw out, waiting for an answer from the princess.

"Ridge, I have something to ask you," Glacier told her friend.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen the new dragon, um-what's his name again?"

"His name is Celsius, and I quite like him, myself," Ridge responded, surprising Glacier on accident, but she quickly covered it up before he could notice.

"Anyways, have you seen him since the celebration started?" Glacier asked, but Ridge shook his head. "Do you know where he could be?"

"I don't know exactly, but I believe he said that he was skipping the celebration and staying at his home. He told me that he felt like the other students took him as an outsider. He said that he would feel like an outcast if he showed up to the celebration tonight." I nodded to Ridge, thanking him for the answer. "Now, shall we dance?" He extended his claw once more, and Glacier took it without hesitation.

Immediately, they broke down into the dancing, taking a series of different dance steps as they joined several other IceWings at the celebration. Glacier followed Ridge's lead without her mind saying that she should be leading. They continued with a certain rythem, dancing together as if they were reading each other's minds.

 _I wonder what would happen if Celsius was here?_ Glacier's head began, but she shoved the thought, not wanting to worry about him tonight. He wasn't going to ruin the one thing she has been waiting for the past months.

Ridge then took Glacier's claws and spun in a circle, their tails twining during the process. The IceWing Princess let out a laugh of glee, and he did the same thing. Nothing could be much better than this.

 **(* * *)**

They two dancing dragons decided to stop after a half hour, walking back to their friends, who welcomed them back into the huddle.

"I have to say," Ptarmagin began. "That was some impressive dancing, but I don't think it was as good as our's." She looked at Reindeer, who gave a toothy smile.

"Is that a challenge I hear? Hm?" Glacier responded, gazing into Ptarmagin's blue orbs as she returned the stare.

"I believe it is," Iceflow announced, slurring the words a little, giving a clear sign she was having too much to drink.

"Okay, enough alcohol for you," Ptarmagin said, snatching Iceflow's cup away from her.

Iceflow responded by protesting. "If this is a party, then I have the right to have as much as I want."

Then, out of nowhere, Ridge walked over to Iceflow and gave her a kiss on the cheek, getting a surprised reaction from all of us. Glacier felt a small twinge of jealously, but waved it off. She knew that the two of them were way better off together than she and Ridge in a relationship. "Can you stop, just for tonight?" Ridge asked as Iceflow began to form a blush across her snout and face.

"Well . . . I'll think about it," she responded, giggling as Ridge gave her a toothy grin. Glacier noticed Ptarmigan rolling her eyes at this, so she decided to ask her friend later. Right now, she wanted to compete with Ptarmigan with who was the better dancer. Glacier scanned the crowd of dragons, some tired from the recent celebrating while most continued to party on.

She then looked towards her mother, who wasn't that far from Glacier. She was standing on a stage that was rose a few feet off the ground, where she could look at all her subjects. Glacier saw her pristine pose, where she would stand, being a role model that every IceWing wanted to be.

Right now, though, Queen Aurora was chatting with one of her advisors, but Glacier couldn't see who it was. Behind the IceWing Queen were two of the elite guard, each holding a spear with a rifle on their back. The guard on her mother's right was standing at attention, surveying the crowd to notice any threats to the queen.

However, the guard on the left was looking suspicous, gazing around the mass of dragons as if he were afraid to show something to the public. Glaicer frowned at the dragon before he noticed one of his claws leaving his spear and going to his back leg, where the was a black band, holding a knife. . .

 _What is he doing?!_ Glacier's mind erupted in a fury of panicked thoughts. _Was he ordered to take out his knife? Was their a threat?_

Those two questions were quickly shot down when the IceWing princess saw the guard bring back the knife for a sideways thrust into his target. . . which was the Queen of the IceWings.

"No!" Glacier yelled, getting the attention of her friends. They barely had to time to process what was going on before a massive sound erupted the party, causing the music and singing to go to a eerie halt. Ridge knew what it was, however, because he wrapped his wings around Glacier, who was too focused on the stage.

The first thing she saw was blue blood spray into the air, horrifying Glacier. Immediately after that, she saw the left guard stumble back, falling off the back of the stage. There was then a roar of alarm coming from Queen Aurora's guard on the right, followed by three heavily armored dragons flying through the air, enclosing the IceWing Queen into a protective shell.

Soon, screaming and shouting began as the massive mob of IceWings fled from the courtyard, in fear of being the next target like the soldier who fell of the stage.

Glacier turned to Ridge. "Make sure our friend are safe and bring them inside the palace." She ordered her friend, who obeyed immediately, running back to their friends to ensure they were alright.

The IceWing Princess took up into the sky, flying quickly to her mother, who was still being protected by the four guards. She flapped her wings with determination to make to her goal as she picked up speed.

Within seconds, she was stopping to meet her mother, who finally managed to order her guards to break formation and into a new one: two guards in front and two in the back. The queen looked at her daughter in concern, before looking at the guard who fell off the stage. Glacier did the same thing, but instantly regretted at the sight of him.

It was Frost, who was a loyal guard to the queen, but Glacier was soon thinking otherwise. There was a big hole in his forehead with blood pooling around it. His eyes were open, staring up into the nightsky, as if waiting for something.

Glacier felt her stomach twist and almost threw up, due to it being the first time seeing a dead, bloody dragon in her life. She staggered away from the victim of the shooter, who was still unidentified. She then felt a wing being wrapped around her, and it was her mother. The queen looked down at her daughter with worry and fear, which Glacier couldn't understand.

"Glacier, do you have any idea what just happened?" Queen Aurora asked, getting the princess' attention.

"Y-yes, mother," Glacier answered. "He was going to stab you in the back." She pointed to Frost, and the queen eyes widened in alert. She motioned her guards to Glacier, who was going to protest. "What's going to happen now?"

"We are going to find the killer, and punish him," Queen Aurora growled confidently.

"But Frost tried to kill you!" Glacier exclaimed, before getting a look of worry from her mother. "I saw it with my own eyes! He brought out his knife, you can see it next to his body!"

"In due time, my daughter," the Queen of the IceWings said, "but right now, we need to find the shooter."

Glacier rolled her eyes, but noticed flashes of light coming from one of the skyscrapers while she looked up, followed by more faint gunshots. She stared at the scene as yellowish light flashed for a milisecond, before disappearing again. The process was repetitive as she watched for the past ten seconds.

More IceWings yelled and shrieked in fear, beginning to disperse, rushing back to the direction their dwellings were. Glacier just watched both them and the scene as her mind went into flurry of thoughts. She didn't notice her mother looking in the same place, before she acted on the scene.

"Moons . . . get the Elite Guard up there!" Aurora ordered, and a IceWing guard soared off into the palace, getting the group of special combat trained IceWings. "You," she pointed at her other guard, who listened intently to her, "get the IceWings civilians out of here in a orderly fashion."

"Yes, your majesty," the guard complied, before flying off to get his fellow comrades. Soon, two dozen IceWing soldiers flew off to their assign posts, Glacier watching four of the Elite Guard soar towards the buildings to stop whatever was going on up there.

But it was too late, for Glacier heard a faint shatter of glass, looking back up at the tower. What her eyes saw horrified her.

There was a IceWing, falling with his back to the ground. His arms and legs were flailing from what she could see, but nothing else she could see from such a long distance to get anymore description. However, she did know that the IceWing was falling to his death.

"Look! That IceWing is falling!" A dragon from the crowd shouted.

"He's going to die!"

"What's going on?!"

That same question was imprinted to Glacier's mind as she watched the IceWing fall, unable to flip himself to use his wings. Her vision of watching it then was blocked by one of the guards, who was urging her inside the palace.

"Wait, he's slowing down!"

"The dragon is using the wall to slow himself!"

"Who is that?"

That was all Glacier heard before being pulled inside, walking back to her room, being escorted by six of the guards, most likely requested from her mother. It was a quiet moment, Glacier's head in fury of thoughts and accusations she couldn't understand half the time.

 _Why did this happen?  
_

 _Who is doing this?_

 _Is the Royal Family is danger?_

 _Is the new student involved in the assasination attempt?_

Glacier's head stopped functioning after that question, but she couldn't get rid of it. When she made it to her room, she immediately went onto her bed, gathering all of her thoughts as she began to think of what just happened ten minutes ago.

Once she gathered all her thoughts, she started with the question about the new dragon being involved. Glacier assumed that it was possible, but most of her mind was denying it. _Celsius couldn't be involved, he's too shy, antisocial, handsome, muscular-_

Glacier shook her head in shock, before feeling herself blush at the thoughts. She then realized it was a inappropiate time to be doing such a thing. The IceWing Princess then wondered what part of her mentioned the last to characterisitics of Celsius. Was Iceflow right? Was she falling for this dragon?

 _No,_ Glacier thought to herself, _I have to be strong and a independent leader to show all of my future subjects what I am capable of doing and completing. I will not be a dragon with a gushy love interest._

For some reason, after she kept on denying the fact that she wasn't having a crush on him, her body refused to have that as an answer. She decided to figure out this situation later because she had more important things to go over.

One of the things is wondering who that dragon was who took the shot.

Another is whether Glacier should fear for her life.

Her mother was the obvious target, because from where the bullet had entered Frost, it wasn't placed by the Elite Guard, but most likely by where the sniper was. This only meant that Glacier could be a target soon. It was the first time Glacier realized how scary her life was about to come.

 **Hello reader, if you are reading this, then you must of enjoyed the chapter.**

 **I will be updating this Saturday, hopefully, it just depends on how the events on Saturday go. If I don't update on Saturday, then it will definetely be Sunday.**

 **Cya guys soon,**

 **Zmike**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey readers, I just want to say thank you for being patient. I wanted to get to this chapter out yesterday, but it was too late to start it on Wednesday. Anyways, enjoy.**

 **Celsius**

Falling was a lot more scary than Celsius expected. He could hear the faint screams of the IceWing bystanders at the celebration as he plummeted down towards the ground. Celsius knew that he couldn't die, but the chances of survival were small, even for his standards.

He only had ten seconds before he hit the ground, and during the three, he rememebered his enchanted knife from his adopted father. His arms scrambled for his back leg as Celsius heard the wind blow into his ears. He was right beside the building he was falling out of, and a plan formed in his mind.

"Here goes nothing," Celsius told himself, perhaps a little too calm. It was life and death at this point, and he chose life. He had a mission to complete, and he wasn't going to fail it within a week of starting it. He grabbed his Karambit blade and swung the knife over his head, and into the building.

Since the building was made of ice, the knife went into with no problem. The only things that caught Celsius offguard was the horrible screeching sound of a blade slicing through ice, shattering it as he went down. The other was the fact that he felt his arm stretch when he started to decelerate. Celsius shouted in pain as the nerves in his arm shot with sudden agony.

It was like feeling his muscles being slightly torn, each bit giving away one strand by another. Even though Celsius wanted to let go so much, he wouldn't let himself; he was still falling too fast to survive. Pieces of ice flew at him as he continued to slow down towards the ground. His eyes began to fill with tears as the pain in his arm became unbearable. His claw then let go of the knife handle, and Celsius' heart filled with fear that he was going to die.

As he free fell, the IceWing Agent failed to notice that he was only 15 feet off the ground, hitting the solid surface with a _thud_ and a groan. He laid there for about a full minute, his mind thinking of the impossible scenerio he just faced. Celsius was surprised with himself being able to go through that amount of pain as he tried to get up.

That was a big mistake. As soon as he used his arm which swung into the ice building to lift himself up, Celsius felt large amounts of burning pain surge through it, and he collapsed back on the ground. _That's going to be a problem,_ Celsius thought to himself, using his other arm to push himself up. _Now time to get home._

Celsius knew it was going to be hard trying to get all the way back to the surburban shelter looking suspicious. He limp was going to get him spotted and questioned as soon as any patrolling guards found him. He started towards the direction of his home, picking up his knife and the sniper. Celsius didn't want to have the gun checked for DNA prints, and he was also keeping a gun from the enemy. _So it's a win-win situation,_ Celsius thought sarcastically to himself.

"Frigid. Frigid! You there?" Celsius asked through his comm, which he was thankful for it still being intact from the fall. There was no response at first, but static soon followed. A voice then started giving Celsius a chat.

"Moons, Celsius! What were you thinking!" Frigid yelled over the mic, causing Celsius to wince at the sudden noise. "I think every dragon in IceWing Kingdom heard that. I heard that from the house."

"I thought the gun was going to have a suppressor on it," Celsius tried to defend himself, but he knew he was at fault- he should've checked the sniper to see that it was silenced. He mentally beat himself up at the stupid move to use it, but what else could he have done? If it wasn't for him, the Queen of the IceWings would be dead, and the kingdom would be thrown into chaos.

"Fine, but I'll have to tell the director about what happened," Frigid said, sounding irritated and nervous; it was never a good talk with the head of Pyrrhia Police. "Make sure you get back here unscathed. Also, what happened in the last two minutes I was gone?"

Celsius looked to his right and left as he left the alleyway he fell into. He quickly ran to the nearest spot of cover, his limp slowing him down. "Well, I took out one of the queen's guards, but he was about to kill her."

"So . . . you were right about it, then," Frigid said, a bit uneasy.

"Then I got shot at by two extremists with machine guns," Celsius went on, explaining how he was forced out of the window. "The terrorist cell is more equipped than we thought."

"Understood. Anything else?"

"Yeah, I almost plummeted to my death. That would've been the end of me if I didn't catch myself with my knife," Celsius then told Frigid about how his arm was hurt and that he would need to be bandaged up. "I'm lucky to be alive."

"Got it. Now just get yourself back without being spotted." The chat ended with Frigid cutting the communication, leaving Celsius alone in the dark. There weren't any IceWings in the streets, it being two in the morning. The wind was now colder than normal, Celsius shivered a bit when he was touched with the breeze.

Then, he heard the flapping of wings behind him, and he turned around to see two IceWings flying over the buildings, analyzing the ground. One was holding a spotlight while the other was holding a rifle.

 _No. No, no, no,_ Celsius thought to himself as they flew away, checking the next area on their list. _I won't have enough time to get out of the city._ He cursed silently, and bolted to the next bit of cover in the street he was moving down. _This is going to take a while,_ Celsius thought as he bolted to a buildings side, out of aerial view from the street. It was going to be a long night, and a even longer day tomorrow.

 **(* * *)**

Celsius opened the door to his residence, exhausted from the hours of dodging the guards flying in the sky. He quickly got inside and shut the door fast as if he was being watched by someone. Celsius then fell against the wall, taking big gulps of air. He didn't noticed Frigid walk up next to him, which he had a annoyed face.

"Finally decided to show up?" He asked, and Celsius nodded, setting the sniper rifle he stole from the enemy next to him. "What is that?"

"It's the gun I stole from the terrorists," Celsius told him between short breaths, his lungs being filled with the glorious oxygen once again. "And no, I didn't get spotted."

Frigid frowned, looking at Celsius suspiciously before he went back to his task at hand: not getting yelled at by his bosses. Celsius seemed relieved that he was walking away, but Frigid turned around, most likely forgetting something. _Come on._ Celsius looked up to meet Frigid's look, and Frigid just began to talk.

"Okay, the director took your findings into consideration and you have a new set of orders," he explained to Celsius. "Your new primary mission is to become allies with Princess Glacier."

"You mean friends?"

"Whatever you like to call it," he continued. "After you become 'friends' with her, you will need to protect her at all times without blowing your cover. Remember, do not get attached to her; you aren't here to make friends or dates."

"They're asking the impossible: do you know how suspicious she is of me?" Celsius asked his comrade, who had a clueless face. "She pretty much interrogated me after combat training on Friday."

"And what did you do about that?"

"Simple, she swung at me-"

"Did you seriously hit the Queen's daughter?!"

"No, I pinned her to the ground."

"For moon's sake, Celsius!" Frigid exclaimed, shaking his head. He walked to the other room and poured himself a cup of refreshing, icy water. "This could already cause the end of peace for the IceWings! The princess might not even talk to you."

"You're overreacting, friend," Celsius responded, smirking at him.

"And why is that?"

"She likes me."

Frigid choked on the water he was drinking and dropped the glass, shattering it. He stumbled to the wall and looked back up to Celsius. "What did you say?"

"I know she has a crush on me," Celsius told his companion, this time more seriously. Frigid left the room once more, this time getting a broom out of the closet. He then came back with the tool so he could clean up the mess he made. "She blushes whenever I'm near her."

"I think your imagination is getting the best of you," Frigid replied, swiping the broom across the floor and collecting the pieces of broken glass. "You might've run your lungs dry of oxygen."

"You don't believe me, do you?" Celsius asked, and Frigid replied with a nod. "I bet we will become friends within a week, and I'll introduce you to her."

"Deal," Frigid agreed, smirking at the IceWing agent. _There's no way he believes me,_ Celsius thought, before a evil look spread across his face. "In fact, I'll put 30 gold coins on the bet, too."

"You got yourself a deal, my friend," Celsius responded before he slowly got up and realized that his chest was sore. He wheezed a few times, stumbled slightly with each step as he made his way to the bedroom he stayed in. He was too exhausted to clean himself up, so he just lied on his bed and closed his eyes, the sniper rifle lying next to him.

 **(* * *)**

It was a Monday, meaning the class week started up again. IceWings in the class were still on edge from what happened on Saturday, and the celebration for Sunday was canceled on the queen's request. Apparently, the assassination attempt really shook them up; no one was paying attention to the professor. Rather, they were looking out the window, as if they were the next target and their lives were going to end.

"Class pay attention," the professor growled, but none of the students except Celsius were paying attention. "ATTENTION!" The class immediately jumped and all the students were now giving their undivided attention to the professor, who relaxed a moment before glaring at the pupils. "There is no threat to you, just to the queen and the Royal Family. You do not have to worry because the IceWing guard is already securing the building. They will be no harm from anyone except from me, and that's if you decide to ignore my lessons."

Everyone relaxed and Celsius held back a laugh towards his classmates. He knew that he would be in deep trouble if he somehow gave his classmates any trouble, and he couldn't blow his cover and lose trust from Glacier. She was the only one he cared about, for various reasons of course.

"Mr. Celsius," the professor called out to him, breaking the IceWing agent out of his thoughts. "Would you like to tell the class about the main weakness of a SkyWing."

"Of course, professor," Celsius responded. "The main weakness is the SkyWing's size. Since their wings are massive, they are slow and not agile enough to defend from fast attacks and objects. They will try to throw the enemy off-balance, but that can be a vulnerability, too. This will lead to their back vulnerable to enemy attack and a stab wound could kill them in short time."

"Very good, Celsius," the professor said in a impressed manner. "Do you know their weapons?"

"Yes professor: weapons of choice are spears or long range weapons in general. They are not fit for close quarters and that's why their important buildings are more open spaced."

The class bell rung, but the professor silenced everyone before they could get out of their seats. "Take in mind what Celsius said," the professor announced. "This will be on the quiz tomorrow, and I will show no sympathy to those who give no effort."

The class then dispersed out the doors and into the hallways. Celsius was the last one out of classroom, and he began to search for the IceWing princess. Fortunately, she was no hard to spot; for she was being accompanied by two IceWing guards. They watched every IceWing cadet in the building, analyzing what they might do if they were threats to the Royal Family.

The princess was also with her two friends, and they were chatting about something. For Celsius, he knew it was most likely about him or the event on Saturday, and he was worried that the princess was coming up with a conspiracy about him. Celsius quickly decided to go chat with the IceWing princess, and he sped up his walking pace.

Unfortunately, the IceWing guards saw this, and one of them swung his spear at Celsius before he could say a single word. As soon as Celsius saw the weapon zooming towars him, he quickly made the decision to grab the spear by it's wooden pole and hold onto it. Everyone in the hallway stopped in the hallway to look at what happened, and the guard seemed surprised on how Celsius was able to do what he did. Glacier turned back to look at him, and Celsius saw a small blush followed by a shocked face on how Celsius was holding the spear against a very well trained guard.

"Guard, yield," Glacier commanded.

"But your majesty," the guard responded. "He could be a assassin."

"I said yield," she repeated, confidence in her voice as if she was in charge of the entire world. "Everyone else, continued with your day." She looked around to everyone, giving them all daggers. They seemed to get the message, because all the IceWings dispersed to their next class. Glacier then turned around to tell her friends to leave them alone. They complied, but one of the princesses' friends wiggled their eyebrows suggestively, and Celsius immediately knew what was going on. _She does like me._

Glacier then turned back, her cheeks had a fading spot of dark blue blood, trying to keep the blush away. "What do you want, Celsius."

"I was hoping we could have a little chat; just you and me," Celsius suggested, but then he heard the two guards growled in disapprovement.

"I don't think we will have that luxury," Glacier responded, looking at the two guards, making her diamond jewelry sway from side to side. "They were ordered by my mother not to leave my side no matter what." Their spears went to their side as they watched Celsius carefully. "But I can have this chat later at the palace, if you want to have a private chat there."

"No, no it's fine here," Celsius responded, giving his most formal stance. Glacier then gestured him to walk by her side, and he did so.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Glacier asked curiously, getting closer to him. He felt a little uncomfortable when she did this, but he decided not to say anything about it.

"Well, I was wondering if we could forget about everything and start over, this time on good terms," Celsius told her, and she found this a little unexpected, especially coming from him. "Just forget of the . . . disagreements we had over the pass week and a half."

Glacier looked up slightly and frowned, considering the offer. Celsius knew she was thinking of the positives and negatives of the proposal, and he was hoping Glacier would accept this. After a long minute of silence besides the noise of metal hitting the ground, she spoke again.

"I will accept this request," Glacier responding, agreeing to the IceWing agent's proposal. "I apologize for all the rash actions I made against you."

"And I apologize for all the rash things I did to you," Celsius responded as he slowly grabbed Glacier's claw and kissed it in thanks for accepting his apology. This clearly stunned her as a blush formed across her snout. Celsius, along with the two guards, saw this, and the guards eased up on the situation. The IceWing princess looked away from Celsius as she tried to control herself, but was failing.

"I guess I should be getting to class," Celsius excused himself from the princess.

"Yes . . . I should get to class, too," Glacier responded, and she sped down the hallway being followed by her two guards. Celsius smiled, but he forgot something. "Wait, Glacier!" She stopped and turned her head as Celsius walked down her quickly. Once he was a few feet away, he asked the million dollar question: "Can we start out this new situation as friends?"

Glacier stayed still for a few moments, but responded with a blind nod. This started the relationship that Celsius never thought would happen, with the IceWing princesses' skepticism and all. Glacier knew this as well, because she quickly twined her tail with his, ensuring that their friendship just begun. Celsius smiled at the princess, then checked his watch to see that class was starting in twenty seconds.

"Oh moons! Got to go," Celsius exclaimed as he ran towards his class, leaving Glacier to walk to hers. As Celsius continued to move toward his target, he didn't know that Glacier was in a fantasy that she thought she would never have. _I guess asking works. Well, most of the time,_ Celsius thought, smiling to himself as his friendship started with the most unlikely dragoness in the IceWing Kingdom.

 **Hey there guys, I'm just going to come and say that this was long overdue. I deeply apologize and I scold myself, knowing that I under estimated the importance of my finals (which I passed) and the fact that my laziness took over me. I failed to keep my promise with my updating schedule, and there is no excuse for this. I am also very sorry with not updating the Christmas chapter, but Christmas doesn't end until January 6th, so hope that I don't get lazy.**

 **Speaking of which, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you had a awesome time with the Holiday you celebrated today or over a series of days.**

 **I will continue to do my best with the updating schedule and I will see you all soon in the next Not Always Alone chapter.**

 **P.S.-no one spoil The Last Jedi for me. I haven't had time to see it yet.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys, I just want to say my updating schedule will be strange. I might update a lot in a short period time one week, then you won't hear from me for about a week. It just depends on how school goes. Let's get into the story**

 **Glacier**

Glacier was having a hard time focusing in class today. Her mind was less on the work she had been handed, but more on the conversation she just had with Celsius. Glacier was surprised by the event that just took place and tried to push it out of her head for later, but couldn't seem to do so. Too much happened in the short period of time she spent with Celsius, with him apologizing and all.

For one, she was caught off-guard when he came up to her, asking if the princess could forgive him of his actions. She was especially surprised by how Celsius acted in the short duration of the apology. His tone and posture was very formal; his voice was flooded with sincerity while his stance showed respect to her as a member of the Royal Family. However, those things didn't surprise her like his gesture for gratitude after she accepted his apology.

Glacier looked down at the top of her claw, remembering when Celsius kissed it when he excused himself to class. Although it was very proper, the custom of doing it was forgotten by the IceWings ages ago. Their ancestors seemed to think that the action was becoming unneccessary, thus ending the tradition of kissing a princess' or queen's claw when being excused or introduced.

Even though the discussion was clearly suppose to be businesslike, Glaicer couldn't help but go back when his lips touched her scales. Unfortunately, this thought seemed to make her slightly blush in class, and her friend noticed it. She was beginning to think that it wasn't just a gesture of respect . . . but a gesture of affection.

 _Could he actually like me?_ Glacier wasn't sure what to think. _How could he like me after all the disrespectful things I did to him? There's no way he has a crush on me. No way._ She repeated the last statement multiple times to make sure it stuck, but it wasn't working. The thought of Celsius liking her was imprinted in her mind, and she began to think if they had a relationship started.

She mentally slapped herself, mainly because she didn't want to the center of attention if she physically shook her head. _Don't think like that; the Queen of the IceWings would think independently on every situation. She would not need assistance from anyone._

"Are you blushing?" Iceflow asked, smirking at Glacier. The IceWing Princess just scowled in response before looking away, turning towards Ptarmigan, who had the opposite of a humurous expression. Her facial features showed seriousness and curiousity, but it was mostly seriousness. Her orbs analyzed Glacier, and the princess found it very uncomfortable as she did this.

"I believe your discussion went in an unexpected way?" Ptarmigan guessed, and Glacier nodded lightly, eyeing her friend. "And that you don't want to talk about it."

"Well, you guessed correctly," Glacier responded. Her friend then refocused her attention back to the worksheet on the desk in front of her.

"You got to tell us what happened," Iceflow said, smiling a little. "I promise I won't tell anyone."

Glacier sighed. _There's no way to shut her up, is there?_ "Maybe later," she whispered to Iceflow, who lit up in surprise, but smiled in satisfaction. "He needed to have a conversation with me after classes."

"Needed a conversation or asked for one and you agreed," Iceflow responded, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively to the princesses. Glacier just glowered and gave her a low growl in annoyance while her friend just smirked, going back to work on her paper.

"I don't even know why I talk to you."

"Neither do I," Ptarmigan agreed, not looking up from her paper. The class bell rang, and the response to the noise was a massive group of dragons trying to get out of the room as fast as possible.

"Remember, assignments are due in two days," the professor called to the group. "You should have time to finish all fifty questions before then."

 _Fifty questions?_ Glacier looked down at her paper, and sighed sadly at the thought of doing this all night. Grumbling about the piece of paper, the professor seemed to hear the noise and looked at the princess with a frown.

"Sorry, Miss Glacier, but everyone contributes the same work and effort, royalty or not," he said simply as he looked at the stack of papers on his desk. He sighed, "even I contribute, too."

The IceWing Princess made her way out the door and into the hallway. Thankfully, it was her lunchtime . . . and it was Celsius' too. She wondered if she should sit by him and get to know him, but dismissed the thought. She didn't want to rush anything with her new . . . friend? Glacier was still having a hard time grasping the thought of being friends with a dragon she'd been a jerk to.

Also, she had to be careful. Since Glacier didn't know Celsius all too well, she decided it was best to keep her distance. Besides, he couldn't do any harm if her guards were always escorting her.

 _Guards._ She turned her head to see the two bulky soldiers standing there, analyzing every centimeter of the academy. Glacier appreciated them doing their jobs, and through that appreciation was the respect she needed to give to her future subjects. She then started walking, her diamond jewelry rattling as she went along. The guards followed, giving her enough room for personal space at the same time being close enough to fend off a surprise attack.

"Hey Glacier," a masculine voice came from her front. It was Ridge, and he had that goofy grin she'd known for a long time. As that thought settled, she also remembered that him and Iceflow were dating, and possibly in love. She felt a twinge of jealously for a moment before letting it go: not everything was going to go her way, and she needed to embrace that.

"Hello Ridge," Glacier responded with a blank expression. "How is your day going?"

"Well . . . fine, but I don't know about Celsius," Ridge replied. "I currently just saw him get mocked and hit by some renegades." He spat out the last word, cringing when it came out of his snout.

 _Renegades._ Glacier remembered that the professors called the rowdy and wild IceWings in the Academy renegades because of their rebellious behavior in the school. But that was long ago, the renegades Ridge was referring to were ones who got jealous if another dragon was excelling past them. In Celsius' case, Glacier knew that he would not last one if he didn't teach a lesson to them, soon.

"How bad was it?" Glacier asked, concerned the her new friend's health. Ridge did not look at her in surprise for caring about a dragon she despised the first time around, but rather complied to her question, giving the answer.

"It was short, but he came out with a couple bruises. It happened outside, right after the bell rang. Celsius and I were walking when they ganged up on him; Chill was leading it."

Glacier nodded, understanding the situation immediately: Chill was typically one to get jealous if he was getting shown up, especially if it was a seventh-circle IceWing. She immediately knew that this would not end well, and it was going to be someplace public.

Like the prey center.

Glacier felt her senses go in alarm, and before she knew it, she was gazing around the cafeteria trying to find Celsius before Chill. She soon spots him across the prey center, between the crowd of noisy and talktative IceWings cadets, sitting by himself with a couple a third-circles. Ridge spots him, too, and begins to help Glacier through the mass of IceWings.

Unfortunately, Glacier saw Chill and his friend standing right behind him. She wanted to yell at the top of her lungs in anger at them, but it wouldn't do them any good. Her two guard followed her in pursuit as she waved through the tables, not waiting for any of her peers to get ahead of her. Ridge was almost there and about to divert Chill's attention from Celsius to himself, but Galcier stopped him.

"Celsius can handle himself," Glacier told him, but he was hesitant at that part. There were three of them: an very unfair match. However, Glacier knew that unfair circumstances were apart of life.

And Celsius knew it, too.

"Guards. Disperse and observe, _only,_ " Glacier ordered, turning to her two protectors. She gave them signals pointing to Galactic and the three nodded and went different ways, getting some attention from the cadets. She then turned to Ridge, who gazed into her. His eyes didn't show determination and understanding to Celsius, but to his friend. "I'm going to move in to hearing range." Ridge nodded, before moving away to find a good spot to watch was going to happen.

Glacier eased her way towards Celsius and Chill's group until she was in hearing range. Then looking to her right, she stood like that so she wouldn't be detected or noticed by any of them. She shuffled a bit more, then she could hear the conversation.

" . . .You really think you can just pass us up without getting taught a lesson?" It was obviously Chill, it was so easy to his cocky tone from a mile away. "I see you entered the second-circle, and about to be put in the first with all the other sassy IceWings."

 _How. Dare. He!_ Glacier thought furiously. The renegade was disrespecting the IceWings that earned their way to the top after years of hard work and dedication. Half of her body want to go over and slap him, the other half wanted to go and kill him, dismembering his body limb from limb. However, the IceWing princess knew that there would be a lot of issues. She managed to control her feelings and just continued to listen in on the conversation.

"And what's that your drawing? The Princess?" Chill asked rhetorical, and that surprised Glacier for the second time this day. Still, she still stayed out of the knowledge of the four dragons. "What, do you expect to say 'Your Majesty' and show her this? You really expect the princess to be all over you?"

Glacier saw Celsius in the corner of her eye, and even though he wasn't showing any expression, he was becoming annoyed with Chill. Celsius just continued to draw on the picture, not giving any attention to Chill. The renegade, however, didn't see this and continued to annoy him. It was only a little bit before Chill decided to make a big mistake.

With a quick move, he swiped the drawing the Celsius was making. Celsius just stood up and glared at him as Chill waved it in front of him in a mock way. It was Glacier alright, this time the drawing of her had more of a expression and detail. The princess gave the smallest smile she'd ever did, and her cheeks warmed up a little. _I guess the gesture wasn't a sign of respect._

"It would be ashame, if, I don't know, the paper was destroyed," Chill mocked. With one quick motion, Chill ripped the paper in two, crumpling each piece and throwing it at Celsius. In response, Celsius growled loudly, getting the attention of about half the cadets in the academy.

"Now, that paper is going to be you," Chill snarled, giving a michevious smile at Celsius, who was now looking at him a few inches from his snout. The cafeteria was silent, besides the few conversations that were very close to end. Glacier looked at the two male IceWings glaring down at each other, but didn't notice a larger IceWing walk beside her.

She looked up to his face before noticing it was her battle training instructer. He had a blank face as he watched the two dragons. This was when Glacier knew it was time to stop this, even though Chill deserved to be beaten down. Taking a step forward, she was about to tell the two, but a wing got in her way. It was her instructor, who just shook his head at her. "You do not need to fight other's battles. Let Celsius do this on his own, but I'll let you if things get out of hand." She turned back to the scene, just in time to see Celsius speak.

"What are you waiting for?" Celsius growled at him. "Make your move, weakling." Chill complied with what he said a threw a punch at his stomach.

However, by the time Glacier saw the movement, Celsius had blocked, starting to squeeze the balled up talons. Chill growled in anger and swung his tail at Celsius, who caught it before it could inflict any damage to Celsius' face. Unfortunately, when he blocked Chill's tail, it cut his claw; Glacier noticed blue blood starting to drip onto the floor.

Chill growled out a order, and two very muscular IceWings came out of the crowd. The first of the two charged Celsius at his side, but he just shoved Chill off him and tail-swiped the attacker, sending him to the floor with a thud.

"Ooo!" The IceWings cadets chanted, seeing the attacker go down. The second one was unsure what to do, but after a few moments he charged, pouncing with his claws extended at Celsius.

Celsius easily blocked the attack; he rolled to his right and used his wings to block the attack. Since the second attacker didn't want to kill him, the scratched the wing's surface, leaving a tiny stream of blood at the entrance of the small wounds. The attacker then tried to use his tail to land a blow on Celsius, but he already saw the move before it happened. The tail swiped from the right, and Celsius caught. Glacier was shocked by such a block, since it was ever rarely able to be stopped by any dragon. Celsius then pulled the tail to him, causing the attacker to trip on it, and hit his head to the floor, letting out a cry of pain.

Then Chill came out of nowhere, but Celsius seemed to predict he was coming, because he opened a wing fast. The result of this was Chill getting a hard slap to the face. He stumbled backwards, thus giving Celsius the time he needed for ending the fight. Celsius quickly lunged at Chill and grabbed his throat, which caught his enemy off-guard. Shoving him into a table, his snout went very close to Chill's, and he spoke these words out loud.

"Next time you want to confront me, bring more of your friends," Celsius spat, pushing Chill against the table. Glacier sighed in relief that the fight was over, before seeing Chill move into a striking position.

Glacier then felt time slow down for her. Chill rushed towards Celsius and he extended his tail out, swinging it. Glacier felt her heart stop when Celsius turned around just in time to see a tail full of spikes smack him right across the face. The force of the hit caused Celsius to spin to the ground, groaning as Chill's arm pressed down on him. Then, Chill opened his snout, ready to fire a blast of frost breath.

This act caused Glacier to lose all control and enter a blindside of anger. Only anger. Her veins pumped with rage as she saw what was going to be an act out of cold-blood.

And she would never have in the IceWing Kingdom. _Her_ kingdom that she would inherit.

 _ENOUGH!_

Every single IceWing in the room turned to her, their expressions showed shock and fear. Her eyes glared down at Chill as IceWings moved out of the way, not wanting to be in the sight of rage, ready to be delivered. As if on instinct, her posture became formal and her eyes felt like as if they were boring right through Chill's soul. And it felt good.

"Chill of the IceWings!" she yelled angrily. "Explain yourself, _now!_ "

She saw Chill's body quiver in fear as she took a step towards him with her wings spread out, making her look three times her actual size from what she heard. It seemed to work, because Chill seemed to cower even more than before, his eyes wide with fear.

"P-princess G-Glacier," he stammered, his eyes dotting across the crowd as if he wanted to be one of them right now: a bystander. "Well, I was k-kind of-"

"Kind of what?" Glacier demanded as she used her neck to look above him. He went silent, knowing that he was going to lose trying to get out of trouble. "Kind of disrespecting dragons ranked higher than you? Trying to sabotage another cadet?" Again, he was silent, not giving out a single breath. "Well, I do not stand for this behavior at the Academy! When I inherit Queenship of this Kingdom, I will not tolerate crimes of cold-blooded reason or any sort of reason, especially when it comes to murder! Guards!"

Glacier turned around to see her two escorts come out of the crowd, their spears at hand. They rushed up to her and waited for orders to be spoken. "Take this IceWing to the Head of the Academy, after you do, go back to the Royal Palace."

"But, your majesty, your mother's-" one of the guards tried to object.

"That's an order," she growled at the two guards, and they did as they were told. The two guards took Chill and escorted him down the hall, leading him to the Head of the Academy. "Tell her that I found a more suitable guard for myself." Glacier then turned to Celsius with a blank expression. "Second-circle Cadet Celsius." A murmur went through the crowd, but Glacier ignored their comments. She gazed at Celsius, who had a look of surprise and awe. "Come escort me to my next class."

Celsius then got up slowly, almost falling down again, but was soon standing. His right cheek was bruised and cutup, and he would need that patched up. However, it would have to be later, and Glacier would see that he was patched up herself. She kept her posture formal as she made her way down the hall, this time being escorted to Celsius, to her liking.

 _I'll have to deal with my thoughts later,_ she told herself mentally, wondering why she was thinking about caring for Celsius. Instead of thinking more about it, she shoved them away and continued down the hall.

 **(* * *)**

Classes ended for the day, and Glacier led Celsius outside of the main building. The chill of the wind comforted the IceWing Princess as she walked beside Celsius, who was still awestruck by what happened a few hours ago. He had been at Glacier's side all day, being her personal body guard, which he didn't argue with. Glacier requested that all his classes would be switched to her schedule, and it worked like a charm.

Glacier appreciate the head of the school to do something like this. This would mean she would be able to get to know Celsius. She would get to know his history, present, and reason to be here.

There was one thing she couldn't really understand, though, and that was why she was beginning to have a crush on him. She kept repeating the same phrase 'I need to stand strong myself'. She could stand strong herself, but when things got out of control or when she needed assistance, Glacier would need a dragon to rely on. That dragon was Celsius, because her heart was telling her so.

"So . . . thanks for saving me a few hours ago," Celsius began, snapping Glacier out of her thoughts. It was about the fifth time he said this, but Glacier loved to hear it: it was the first time she'd ever shown him up at something. "And I also knew you were listening the whole time.

Glacier frowned at him, "Really?" Celsius nodded. "When did you notice?"

"As soon as you came to listen in on our conversation," Celsius said, his cheek was more blue than a few hours ago. She would need to get him patched up. "But this is not what I wanted to talk about."

"Then what did you want to talk about?"

"I was wondering if you could show me around the Kingdom," Celsius spoke quietly, the words were only meant for Glacier to hear. "I'm kind of new to the region and I want to know how to get through the city the easiest." Glacier's heart jumped when she heard about getting to be his guide.

"I could show you around," Glacier responded, relaxing from her formal posture that she was trained to do for her entire life. "But I need to know where you would want to start."

"Well, I've been thinking about it, and since I'm technically your new personal bodyguard and all," he rambled, making Glacier smile a little. Instead of scolding herself to do so, she let the thoughts fly away. Glacier finally knew she didn't have to be perfect 24/7, but she could have fun, too. "I was wondering if we could start with the Royal Palace first."

 _Yes!_ Glacier mentally cheered for a reason she couldn't understand. "Of course, but it's a pretty long flight."

"I can fly just fine," Celsius told her, and she smirked.

"Then let's see if my bodyguard can keep up with me."

 **Hey guys, just wanted to say that this is a little longer due to having more time to work on it. Also, I've also started to post some art of Not Always Alone. There will be a link after this message to my profile if you want to check it out. I still need to learn how to properly do drawings of the dragon's body, so for now I will be only drawing heads and necks.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter**

 **-Zmike**

 **Profile:**


	13. Chapter 13

**Nothing needs to be said. Still trying to figure things out in life. Got Finals in like two weeks. Trying to draw art (make a cover picture), but can't draw for shit.**

 **Celsius**

 _Trust._

 _Trust is the key for any type of friendship. Whether it is a friend or soulmate type of friendship, the consequences are harder for breaking that friendship. One cannot lose a friendship if they want to be happy, but sometimes it teaches the person to become more ruthless, more aware of what they do and decide._

 _It is also a vulnerability. It can be life or death for that person whether they want to trust someone or not. Wondering who to trust and who not to is tricky, especially if they can master it. You could be damaged forever by this decision you make. It can become hard to trust anybody at all._

 _But sometimes, it can save you for making big mistakes. It can save thousands of lives._

 _Having trust is having allies that will be loyal to you, no matter what. Break that trust, and you lose allies in the fights you have. You can also make en-_

"Celsius."

Celsius broke out of his thoughts for a moment, looking at the IceWing Princess. She had her eyes glued to his, and they were full of curiosity. She was in a very formal standing pose, trying to give an impression to the citizens that she was holding up to their expectations.

"Sorry, your Majesty," Celsius cleared his throat, giving her a bow. "I was lost in thought." She nodded, giving a "hmm" before moving onward to the direction the palace. The tall buildings of ice loomed over them and the other dragons. IceWings were moving about, either socializing or working for the good of the tribe.

"Training classes are held in this part of the city," Glacier told Celsius, who listened carefully to her words. "Our best soldiers are trained in the harshest conditions."

"What type of conditions?" Celsius gave a look that was hungry for an answer, and she sighed.

"I'm not suppose to say, but they are usually training without food for a couple days, seeing how their endurance holds up." Celsius just stared in confusion, and Glacier almost let out a giggle before covering it up to make it seem like a cough. She continued, "It suppose to help in emergency situations. The guards are meant to protect the Queen and her heirs from anything, even if it means to give up the last rashions in order to keep them alive as long as possible."

"I'm guessing it for things as bad as war," Celsius spoke, and the princess paused before nodding in agreement.

"Yes, but hopefully it never comes to that," Glacier spoke before moving onward.

 _If only you knew about that night,_ Celsius thought, and he then thought of a question.

"Did they ever catch the shooter," he asked her, and she stopped to turn at him.

"I cannot discuss that."

"Really? I'm your new personal guard."

She thought longer than he expected. "Fine, but not here. We need to go somewhere a bit more private. For now, we need to finish that tour."

"Oh. It could wai-" Glacier grabbed Celsius' wrist, making his heart jump. _She has a much faster reflex that I am imagine._ She gave him a smile for a split second. He gave her a wink that made her blush before letting him go.

"We're going to finish that tour, like you asked." She didn't bother to face him while saying this, and he knew why.

"Yes, your majesty," Celsius responded with the most respectful bow he could muster. She nodded at his sincerity before heading off to the palace, with her bodyguard close in tow.

 **(* * *)**

The Palace doors were massive, even for dragons. Reaching twenty dragon lengths high, the door opened when given enough power. Celsius had to do it for Glacier (she kept insisting it is what guards do), and he had to admit it took more energy than he realized.

The interior of the palace was more fascinating than the exterior. There were designs all along the whales, visualizing stories about the past of the IceWings. The grand staircase loomed above the entrance to the throne room, which was being guarded for four guards.

"This way," Glacier instructed Celsius, who followed with no hesistation.

 _Never thought I would get to the throne room._ He looked around, seeing dragons go and come through the throne room. As they approached, the guards let the princess pass and through the door. Unfortunately, they didn't get the idea that Celsius was with her. The blocked his path into the next room, staring down at him with glares.

"Queen Aurora is seen through appointment _only_ ," one of the guards hissed at him. Celsius, being himself, just stood there waiting for the princess to explain.

Speaking of Princess Glacier, she turned around to see the event. Walking back to the guards, with grabbed one by his shoulders and he faced her.

"This is my new personal bodyguard," she informed them. "My mother should have informed all of security about this."

The two guards nearest guards exchanged glances before wearing their serious masks again. "We were not informed of this, but protocol requires for the queen herself to allow such an event to happen."

"Yes, I was just going to her right now."

"There's no need, daughter." The massive figure of the Queen came from the room, surrounded by four of the elite guards. The door guards moved to the side of the hallway and stood at attention, facing each other. Elegantly, her majesty walked through them to Celsius and Princess Glacier. "So, this is him?"

"Yes, mother. I will allow him to be my personal bodyguard at all times. He will be by my side at all times unless given the order by me, only me, and represented by me." Glacier looked at her mother with a stare of certainty. The Queen of the IceWings then looked back to Celsius, who stood there at attention.

The grand room went silent, all the IceWings looked into the direction of the mother and daughter, the ruling family of the tribe. Their eyes gazed at Celsius, too, and he was afraid they would see right through him. He knew they were expecting something eventful.

"At ease, young IceWing," she announced. Celsius relaxed slightly, but he was still concerned on what was going on. "Do you hereby choose to serve the heir of the tribe at all times, unless given the order, by her, only her, and represented by her."

His mind was racing, his heart was pumping. _What do I do?!_ For the first time in a while, he couldn't think straight. _I was ordered not to become too close to her, and I think this is pushing it._ He knew it wasn't right by doing this, but he didn't having much of a choice. _This is for the best of the tribe and the entire continent._

Celsius took a step forward, looking at the Queen of the IceWings, and bowed. "I would be honored to accept a duty such as this."

Queen Aurora looked her daughter again. "Do you what it means to have a personal guard. What happens?"

"I am certain, mother," Glacier replied.

"Very well then, please bow Celsius." He did so, and the Queen approached him. "Glacier, your claw, please?" The princess outstretched her arm, showing her claw that had nails like serrated daggers. The queen guided her hand to Celsius' left cheek, and Glacier froze for a short moment. She continued after, and a single talon was slightly pushing into his scales.

"Make a visible cut like a wave," the queen instructed, and Glacier did so. She pushed her talon, and it sliced right through Celsius' scales on his cheek. He let out a small gasp of pain, gritting his teeth while she made the deep cut of a bendy line. Glacier did her best to go fast, but also took her time to make sure she got it right. Guiding her talon down towards his mouth, she finished, took out her claw, and examined the blue blood covering her talon. She felt disgusted by the sight of it, but she was almost admired by it.

Celsius, on the otherhand, felt nothing but searing pain in his left cheek. Lifting a claw to his cheek, he pressed down on the wound. He then examined his claw, which was now covered in his blue blood.

"It is officially finished," the queen announced to the dragons in the room. She then leaned down to her daughter and whispered, "Don't have too much." Glacier was confused by her saying; she would need to figure that out later.

The dragons in the room roared congratulations to the two young IceWings. Celsius got up and stood beside her, looking around for any threats now he was granted to highest task next to protecting the queen.

"I hope you know what you just did," Celsius told her, and she gave him a scowl.

"Of course I know what I'm doing. I just made you my personal guard," she responded quite confident, and Celsius could not help but scoff. "What?"

"You did much more than that." She looked at him curious, demanding what he was talking about. "When the daughter of the queen decides to take on a personal guard, it means that they have a connection with them." She began to walk, still listening to him as he explained, walking beside her. "An event like this means you found a friend,

and a lover."

She stopped dead in her tracks, thinking about what he just said. _Don't have too much fun._ She recalled the sentence her mother told her before walking off. She whipped around to look at Celsius.

"Does this mean-"

"You just declared me your mate."

Glacier showed a slight look of surprise before compressing it into nothing. Walking over to Celsius, she leaned into his ear, thinking of thoughts she never even considered before.

"I guess we'll have to see if it was worth it." She then stalked off, leaving Celsius to stare at her, processing her words. "I thought you were my personal body guard!" She called as she went up the staircase.

He then let out a grin. "Coming, your majesty!" He ran after Glacier, waiting to get back to his new lover, if that's what she wanted.

 **(* * *)**

Celsius followed the Princess into her room, the one place he never expected to be. He looked around, and it looked like any normal adolescent dragon's room. The one thing different was that she was royalty, meaning she had things worth ten of thousands lying around.

"Sorry about your cheek," the IceWing Princess said sincerely, "I didn't know it was done that way."

"It's tradition," Celsius responded. "If it makes you feel any better, I would've done the same." Glacier shrugged before gazing over the wound.

"This needs to be cleaned, I-" Celsius blocked her talon from reaching his cheek with his own.

"I'll be fine." She nodded, moving towards her bed. Celsius didn't notice, due to be taken away by the detail of her room.

"So, can you tell me more about this thing I just did?" Glacier spoke to him, and he saw her already lying on her bed. Her pale blue eyes looked up at him, looking for an answer.

"Well, most of the time, it is forced on the heiress if they are in a disaster, like civil war," Celsius started to explain, looking for a place to sit.

"Before you continue," Glacier spoke up, grabbing his attention. "I just want to make sure that your willing to do 'it' when it comes, and I was wondering being my personal guard meant sleeping with me at nights."

"Uh . . ." Celsius was surprised at that, not even realizing she was considering this. "Why do you want to know?"

"If it is the best for the tribe, then I will do what I need," Glacier said to him. She looked away from him. "And I know we just restarted this friendship, but I'm ready to move on to the next step if you want to."

Celsius paused for a moment. "Yes, I'm ready, but I thought it took longer to get into this level of a relationship, right?" He gave a smile to Glacier, who blushed without trying to hide it, and turning away. "Right?"

"Well, I kind of admired you since you started classes," Glacier told him slowly, hiding her face. "My feelings were kind of masked by the jealously, and I was paranoid of why you were here all of a sudden."

The IceWing agent nodded, then tilted his head. "Jealous."

"You were moving up the ranks way faster than any of dragon in history, so I got suspicious. I guess it got so bad that I ended up hating you for no good reason."

"It can happen to the best of us," Celsius agreed. "I used to be jealous of an old friend who kept beating me in combat training."

"Wait. You?" Glacier asked. Her eyes were full of surprise and interest. "You were beaten in combat?"

"Once, but that is not the point!" Celsius laughed, and Glacier did so, too. "Anyways, back to the explaining?"

"You still haven't answered my question" Glacier stared at him, and right into his orbs. "Do you really want to be my mate? It's not going to be fun or easy."

"Of course, I like a challenge and I actually had feelings for you, too." The princess then patted to the open mattress space, inviting him to lay down next to her. He shrugged, before walking up and doing what she wanted.

"Now, tell me about this pact."

"Well, the sleeping part you asked about," Celsius explained, "it has to be granted by you, and only you."

"And homework?"

"Yes, I can assist in anything you want me to, and I'm guessing you have homework." Glacier frowned at him before moving to her satchel and taking out the paper she receive in class.

"Fifty questions, due tomorrow," she said bluntly. Celsius lightly took the paper out of her hands. "I don't know if I can do it all by then."

"This stuff is easy," Celsius interrupted her, and she gave him a stare. "Sorry, but I can finish this for you in ten minutes-tops, with your permission of course."

They examined each question together, Celsius giving her a very descriptive answer to write for each one so she wasn't accused of cheating. In between the work, they would share jokes, talk about classes, and one tme Glacier even rested her head on her guard's shoulder. Celsius knew this was the best time he ever had, but never expected it to be in the Royal Palace, and yet, the heiress' bedroom.

They just finished the last question when Celsius thought of what he was suppose to do this afternoon. He got up suddenly, breaking the princess' focus. "Oh! I was suppose to my-erm uncle now! May I be excused for an hour or two to explain to my uncle."

Glacier thought, before nodding. "You better be back before the sun vanishes." Celsius ran out of the room, making record time down the hallway.

"I promise, your majesty!"

Celsius was soon running out of the palace and towards his now old residence, where he would likely find Frigid waiting impatiently for a report.

 **(* * *)**

Celsius got it right.

The IceWing in front of him was furious at his tardiness, then started to give yet another lecture on how the mission could go wrong. Frigid was only two sentences when Celsius cut him off.

"I know I'm late, but I've made the mission even easier for the both of us," he told his companion, who scowled.

"And how is that, exactly?"

"She kind of, um, let's put it in the formal way-oh yeah- decided to make me her personal guard."

Frigid to say the least, was stunned by this. "You got to be freezing my tail right now. Tell me this is a joke, and a very bad joke at that!" He began to pace back and forth. "Do you realize what you're getting into!"

"I kind of had to explain it to the princess," Celsius defended himself. "And I gave her plenty of opportunities to change her mind."

"And she didn't?" Celsius nodded, and Frigid went to the room. "Now I have to tell the director."

"I just came to get my things, too," Celsius announced, going to the basement: the place he stayed. Walking down the stairs swiftly, he got a dufflebag and began shoving a few bottles of water, some books, and even took the pistol he had his stepfather to enchant to make in undectable until used. He strapped the Glock 18 to his right leg, still remembering the left one holding his trusty knife.

He looked around for anything else. Once certain he was ready, he went up the staircase. Something stopped him, though, and he looked at the table of the unfinished weapon he was rebuilding.

"Another time," he whispered, turning the light off and leaving his projects to collect dust, for now. He was right to the door before feeling a claw on his shoulder. He turned, and he Frigid, who gave him a nod.

"The director says it's risky, too, but we have to take chances. Intelligence says things are getting pretty heated," Frigid handed Celsius a few ear pieces and a com. "Use those when in a state of emergency. Good luck, friend."

Celsius' partner made a final goodbye before he was off into the darkness and running back to the palace, wishing to keep the promise he had made Glacier.

 **Glad I wrote this instead of doing homework. No regrets lol.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapters will be more frequent now. The messages I leave in the beginning are not to be taken too seriously, but used to set a mood for the ongoing story.**

 _Loyalty is like a double-edged blade. It is something you give to someone out of trust. The fact of liking or hating someone does not matter, it is whether you know that they are watching out for you, and vice versa. That blade side cuts the right way, knowing that you have allies in battle and that they will fight beside you until the very end._

 _More often, it can cut right through you. Others can use your loyalty as a weapon, causing you to do things in the end get you in harm's way, or killed. The ones that do this do not care for you, but rather think you are expendable in their cause for domination. Their betrayal to you can cause you to act out at the wrong time. It can you to make rash decisions that can harm you or others you trust._

 _Choosing who you are loyal to is critical, because you might not come out alive the next day, hour, or minute that you are with the wrong person, giving them your loyalty until the end. Sometimes the ones you dislike, like your superior, are the ones that you can trust._

 _The key to choosing is watching their decisions during a predicament, no matter how small or big it is. Their choice is what you use to determine if you give loyalty to them at all._

 **Glacier**

Glacier heard a muffled knocking on the door. She ignored it, before the thing she was resting her head on began to shift and move. She opened one eye to see that Celsius already perked up to the noise of the knocking. He seemed to be eyeing it carefully before placing a claw on her shoulder. The IceWing Princess felt her face get warm to the touch, before forcing it to become ice cold: she was _not_ going to seem in a weak state just by him touching her, especially in a public place. She began to open her other eye, blinking it to get it to adapt to the light. The knocking on the door began once again, and Glacier got off the get it.

Before she could start walking to open the door, Celsius moved in front of her. He extended a open claw: he wanted her to halt. For some reason, she did just that. Glacier then gave him a confused and demanding look. Celsius ignored it and walked to answer the door instead.

Celsius turned the handle and opened, revealing an IceWing guard who was standing at attention.

"At ease," Glacier said from a distance, and the guard relaxed. He briefly looked at Celsius, then Glacier, then back to the personal guard. "What is it?"

"The Queen has requested you to take the day off," he informed the two IceWings. He looked up at Celsius again, eyeing the blue cut on his snout going to his cheek. "She wants you to adapt to having a new personal guard at all times before you attend classes." Glacier absorbed the words slowly, trying to find out what her mother was after. Queen Aurora knew all too well that her daughter did not need any time off while adapting to a new situation.

She looked at Celsius and nodded, which he did back. He turned the guard. "You are excused." The guard left hastily, going back from where he came from. "So, what are your orders?"

Glacier scowled at her guard, wondering why she decided to give him the honor of protecting her non-stop. She slowly walked toward him.

"I want to know why you ordered _me_ around," she hissed lightly, but didn't neccessarily want to hiss at him. Celsius didn't look threatened, but rather bowed in what seemed like an apology.

"I'm sorry, Glacier, but since I have the responsibility of keeping you alive, it's best if I am the first one to receive messages like that." He stood at attention, before reaching out and grabbing her claw. He planted a light kiss as a sign of apology and let go of it. She examined it the area of where the imprint was, nodding, accepting his apology.

"You are forgiven," she told her guard. "Since we got that over with," she eyes the IceWing, "I think it is time to get something to eat so we have energy. I still have to show you around the city, don't I?"

Celsius gave a nod, and Glacier walked to her jewelry drawer. Taking her favorite necklace off it's stand, she fashioned it within a few seconds. She could see Celsius waiting patiently for her to get prepared for the day. She grabbed three different colored diamond rings and slipped them on each of her front talons on her right claw. She then made her way to the door, Celsius beginning to walk beside her.

"So how long do you think this tour will be taking?" Celsius asked her.

She shrugged. "Probably a few hours to the whole day, depending on if you can keep up." She smirked at him, while he grinned back.

"Challenge accepted, your majesty," he joked. Glacier chuckled at his comment, then turned right down the hall they were going. Their tails and wings were curled so they could move easily the busy halls of the palace.

They were soon at the ground floor, where the palace was bustling with diplomats and top military officials. When Glacier walked past by one of them, they would bow out of respect; something she loved to see them do. They did this because they trusted her to lead them through a good time, and she wanted her future citizens to remember her rule.

 _One day, I will rule over them, and I will a greater ruler than my mother was._ She smiled at her thought, but was interrupted when she heard the noise of a scuffle. She looked to the noise's origins. Glacier saw two guards holding back an IceWing that had a frightened expression. He was trying to push through the guards, giving them more attention as most dragons in the main palace room stopped to see what was going on.

"There coming! There coming!" the IceWing was shrieking. He was now pushing against the guards, who began to take action against him. The began to try to pin him down, but he resisted. "They're going to kill us all!"

"Who is?" one of the guards asked. "Who is going to kill you? Or are you just delusional?" The two guards chuckled for a moment, still containing him.

"You need to warn the princess!" he yelled. "She is in danger; they are trying to kill her!" Glacier stepped to the crazed IceWing, who looked at her, his eyes pleading to her. "Save yourself!"

"Who is trying to kill me?" she demanded from the IceWing.

"Them! It's not safe out there, your majesty! They'll kill you the first chance they have!"

The IceWing Princess them felt a presence touching her backside. She looked and saw Celsius covering her with a wing in a protective stance. He looked at the IceWing cautiously before looking around the room. He seemed to examine the other IceWings in the room, then up at the tall windows.

"Come on, your majesty," Celsius told her, "let's get to a safer area: the dining room, perhaps?" She nodded, then they left, the IceWing still shouting warnings to her.

"They have no mercy! Please, Princess, save yourself!"

The Princess and her guard made it to their next destination with no interruptions. Celsius looked back to the direction of the fearful IceWing, before giving his undivided attention to Glacier.

The dining room was an icy white color, along with the silk curtains and blue dyed ice to give it some color to the room. The table, however, was not composed of ice, but of birch wood. Since it was the lightest color the IceWings could find, they decided to use it. The chairs were made out of this as well, and Glacier took a seat.

She wanted to ignore his warnings, to believe he was delusional, but she couldn't shake off the messages he had imprinted in her mind. It took back to when the shot rang out at the celebration, then seeing a close guard to her mother have blood spray from his skull.

As she exited her thoughts, Glacier still saw Celsius looking at her. "What?"

"If there's anything about someone trying to kill you, I have to take it seriously," he informed her. "That seemed like very dark information."

"You don't believe him, do you?"

"Do you?"

She thought for a moment, still seeing his fearful expression in her head. "What do you think?"

"I believe him," Celsius announced. "It didn't look like an act or a mentally insane moment. He was actually fearing for your life, as well as his.

And since I believe him, I think we she cancel that tour you were going to give me." I looked at the table of the dining room for a moment. Glacier her head on her claw, not changing the direction of her gazing stare.

"If I cancel it, then what else are we suppose to do?" She looked back at her personal guard, and he went stiff for a moment.

"Well, uh-we could get to know each other a little bit more," he suggested to her. She went still with that response; Glacier never thought Celsius was that type of dragon. "Or we could find something else?"

"No, you're right," Glacier said, "but we're still going on that tour. Well, for an hour anyways."

 **(* * *)**

"As you see here, this is where many of our greatest warriors train," Glacier informed Celsius. She looked back at him with a slight smile and continued on, her 'tourist' following eagerly behind her. "It is also where the elite guard trains."

As Celsius examined the building, Glacier absorbed the noises of her people as they loudly talked and moved doing business with one another. She felt happy seeing this: her citizens were at peace.

"Amazing." That was all Glacier heard from Celsius, and he showed a grin. For some reason, Glacier seemed to see him as cute, and began to feel faintly hot in the face. To even make things get more interesting, Celsius seemed to notice this. Glacier then felt his tail beginning to twine around hers.

"Permission to stay close to you, your majesty?" he said in a jokingly manner. Glacier couldn't help but grin, and the both twined tails.

"I believe it's time to head back to the palace," Glacier finally admitted, partly because the sun was too bright for her interest. It seemed to be ruining the day. "I believe I need to know more about you."

"As do I," Celsius responded.

Then, she felt her head rest against his neck and on his shoulder. She was unaware at it first, then realized what was happening. She retracted her head and neck from him, blushing furiously. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't-"

"What are you apologizing for?" Celsius interrupted her, holding up one of her claws. "You don't need to apologize: you're the princess, you do what you like."

She didn't move from what he said. _You do what you like._ As these words echoed in her head, she began to realize why she made him her body guard. Ever since he showed up in the kingdom, he has been nothing but sincere to her. He seemed to also have a certain charm that radiated positively from him to her. She couldn't quite put her talon on why she felt like this.

Unconsciously, she began to walk again, this time resting her head against his neck and shoulder, and not stopping herself. She was still blushing from doing this, but not as much as when she was flustered at her same action at first. Glacier figured it was alright to show affection to her guard in public, since he was her future mate for the time being.

As they walked, Glacier decided to ask Celsius as question she was thinking for a long time. "So, my personal guard, where did you come from anyways?" There was no falter in his walk suggesting he was not expecting the question.

"I believe it was somewhere in the forest Southeast out of the borders of Ice Kingdom," he answered her question. "I can tell you all about it when we get back to the palace."

She nodded, anxious to get back to her safe haven. The sun was still shining brilliantly from the sky, and her jewelry reflected it's rays in mutliple directions. It seemed she was an easy sight for any dragon around her. After thinking that thought, she suddenly got a paranoid feeling. "Let's quicken the pace, Celsius." She moved her head of her resting place and moved from a walk to a jog. Celsius followed closely, most likely sensing her paranoia and slight fear.

They soon made it to the palace, with nothing happening within their trip back. Glacier began to breathe a little heavy from the jog, but Celsius didn't seem to budge from lack of oxygen at all.

It didn't take her long to reach her bedroom, with light still pouring through the window as she opened the door to enter. Hastily, she moved onto her bed and curled herself up, leaving Celsius to stand in front of door. She patted the mattress to her side, hinting for him to take a seat next to her. He obliged and sat next to her, keeping to himself.

As much as Glacier hated to admit it, she was kind of disappointed when Celsius to curl up with her. _I'll be fine on my own._ She then thought of questions to ask him.

"What was it like to live outside the kingdom?" Glacier asked her guard/friend as she just thought of the word. "If you don't want to answer-"

"No, it's alright." Celsius breathed in, going slightly as he stared intently at the mattress. "It was pretty hard growing up. Since my father died serving the queen, and my mother was killed by a gang or something. No one really knows what happened to her."

Suddenly, she felt pity for the IceWing, starting to regret what she had done against him before yesterday happened. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't know that type of thing happened to you."

"Some of us have it easier than others," Celsius agreed, and Glacier nodded. "I grew up with my uncle, and he began to train to fight. He was a retired guard from the outside regiment of the city: no where near guarding the palace."

"Those moved in the cafeteria looked more like how the elite guard fought," Glacier thought aloud.

Celsius smiled shyly. "I kind of trained myself whenever I wasn't busy with chores or work; it wasn't that often. However, over the years, I had enough training to realize I was really good at fighting."

The IceWing Princess nodded, absorbing the sentences about his past life. She couldn't help but admit that he was a hell of fighter. Seeing him personal beat her older brother without breaking a sweat was more shocking than when she found a polar bear on her first hunting mission.

"You are one incredible IceWing, Celsius," she admitted to him, looking into his eyes. He stared back with his enchanting light blue orbs. She couldn't pull away from his gaze, as if Glacier was in some kind of trance.

Without thinking to herself, she leaned in and kissed the IceWing. She had no idea where the action came from her body, but when she connected, all she knew was that she was loving it. Glacier wasn't surprised when Celsius began to kiss back, his arms beggining to wrap around her.

 _What are you doing!_ Glacier's mind was screaming at her to stop, but she didn't want to. She was enjoying this moment, more than when she was informed she was going to be a queen. Glacier wrapped her arms around his neck, also pushing herself against him in anxiety. She didn't know where this came from, but she didn't feel like stopping it.

Her moment of bliss was ended when the had to pull apart for air, but she didn't feel disappointed. Rather, she felt more alive then ever from that event. She looked at Celsius, her underbely showing up to him. He seemed surpised from the kiss Glacier had given him, but he relaxed and laid down next to her, giving off a toothy smile.

"Where did that come from?" Celsius genuinely asked her. The IceWing Princess' response was a shrug, still blushing and smiling from what she did.

"I kind of let my feelings take over," she replied honestly, then she realized what she said. She blushed a more vibrant dark blue color, but Celsius ignored the embarrassment she was feeling.

"It's good to let your emotions out sometimes," he told her. "Trying to force them down can isolate you from the rest of the world." He planted a kiss on her lips, then giving a wide smile to her. They looked at each other for a moment, before Celsius broke the silence again. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking."

"That we tell this moment to no one ever," Glacier suggested. Celsius nodded.

"Yes, and I was thinking one more thing."

Glacier felt her stomach rumble. "Lunch?"

They both laughed before getting off the bed and making their way out of the room. As they went down the hallway, Glacier stopped him before they made it to a busy hallway.

"We're going to have to keep this relationship professional in public," she ordered him, and he nodded, his expression. "If anyone finds out, then I'm never going to hear the end of it from my friends."

"Neither am I," he agreed. They continued down to the palace, this time with their tails twined tightly around the other.

 **Hello fellow Wings of Fire book lovers. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I plan on seeing y'all soon. (Southern Accent intesifies)**

 **Anyways, I'll see ya guys soon.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello people. I know it's been over a week since I last updated this place, but I was struggling with finishing up my latest of chapter of Not Always Alone. Feel free to check it out. Let's get into this chapter :D**

 **This message in the beginning of the chapter is to not being taken too seriously. It is to set the mood as the story moves on to the next chapter.**

 **Ilovedragons2014: I guarantee a sequel to this. However, I am not focused on that for the time being.**

 _Compassion._ _It's something that separates a moral being and a immoral being._

 _Compassion is what gives us determination. Compassion is a good thing to have, making you a good person in the end. It gives you a bond in any type of a relationship: teammate, friend, lover, and your soulmate. It gives us this sense that everything will be alright in the end; that there will be no suffering from the ones we care about._

 _Except, when disaster strikes, effecting the ones you care for by death or injury, it causes you to spin out of control. You begin to feel guilt for not being there to stop the disaster, greif for the one you lost in that disaster, anger for the one who caused the disaster, and vengeance for making your own justice by harming the one who caused this disaster._

 _The first three are normal for those who lost their teammate, friend, family, or soulmate. Vengeance, however, makes a circle continue at a impossible speed. This circle of chaos gets worse with each hunger for vengeance is desired by him or her. The right thing to do is to feel compassion for the one who caused the disaster, to hope he changes his ways and recognizes his crime._

 _The moral person will give this compassion, but the immoral person will not, and will experience a hell that they walked into on their own choice._

 **Celsius**

Walking beside Glacier in the school hallway, he couldn't help but notice the amount of eyes laid upon him and the Princess. He kept a calm, serious expression, trying to give off a intimidating vibe to the IceWings looking in their direction. Glacier took a right, and he followed, his pace on point with her.

"You don't have to act all serious," Glacier muttered, and he responded with a questioning looked. "No one is going to attack us in a place of learning."

"You can never be too sure," he responded with a hint of sass. She must've of heard it, because she glared at the IceWing agent immediately after his response.

"Do you want to say that again," she threatened, stopping her walk. Celsius looked at her with _"_ try me" expression, and she stabbed a claw onto the center of his chest. "Remember, even though we kissed, I can still make your life a living hell. Do you understand?" She whispered this to him, cracking a brief smile before she turned into her normal, intimidating self.

Celsius stood at attention, reflecting her brief smile. "Yes, your majesty."

"Excellent." She began her walk again, and the both of them arrived to their first period class. She sat down at her usual desk, and he sat one seat back and to the right from her, eyeing the room for anything out of the ordinary. There were a few IceWings, including Ridge, who was seated to his right.

"Dude, congratulations on getting Glacier's good side," he told Celsius, smirking. He gave a smile to his friend, shrugging. "Also, how did you get that cut?"

"That was part of the deal for becomig her personal guard," Celsius told truthfully, but his friend only laughed. It was until a few seconds later that he realized it was real.

"Seriously?" Celsius nodded, and Ridge frowned, before patting him on the back. Getting out a notebook from his satchel, he flipped it to a empty page and began drawing. He wasn't sure what he visualizig, but after a minute, he saw a nice, but also disturbing picture. He didn't erase, but just stared at it for a good time.

"Hey, loser."

Celsius snapped his head from the direction of the voice, which originated from an IceWing glaring at him. "Yes?" Celsius asked, and the other dragon dropped his satchel on the desk.

"You're in my seat." The IceWing agent couldn't help but roll his eyes at what this IceWing was saying. "Get out before something you don't want happens."

"I'll take my chances," I responded sarcastically, resulting in the other IceWing slapping him in the back of the head. Celsius sighed, looking up at him. "Oh my god, how can recover from that blow?" He said this in an unenthusiastic, sarcastic voice, and this time, he went for a punch in the face.

 _Amatuer._ Celsius blocked the blow, holding the attack back by the IceWing's wrist. He began to bend it back, before his opponent flailed his arm to stop the painful assault. The IceWing grabbed his satchel, and Celsius finally let go of his wrist. Looking back towards the front of him, he saw Glacier giving him a disapproving look. "What?"

"You don't solve everything with violence," she lectured him.

"Even if I give him the chance to back off?" Her jewelry dangled from her wrist swung around as she moved her arms. She sighed, and Celsius could also see her diamond necklace glitter.

"Of course, if you don't, then you result in war for two different tribes," the professor spoke up, entering the classroom. All the IceWing cadets went silent, and the professor walked up to Celsius, a frown visable on his face. "I admire your bravery, young IceWing, but violence always leads us down a road that in the end, destroys us."

"Yes professor, I apologize for that action I took," Celsius responded, looking at the teacher dead in the eye.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Avalanche was the one who attacked you." He pointed to the same IceWing that tried to punch him, now sitting in the back of the room. He scowled at Celsius, rubbing his claw from the pain. "You only acted in self-defense."

He then turned to the IceWing Princess. "Observe this one, because I can believe he has a lot to tell." A faint blush appeared on Glacier's face, and she forced it down in a split-second, but it was enough for the professor to see it. He grinned at her, then to Celsius. "Anyway, on with today's lesson: Diplomacy."

 **(* * *)**

The bell for first hour rang. "There is no assignment tonight," the professor informed the class. "But I will assign a project tomorrow that will be worked on for the next few weeks." Everyone but a selected few groaned over this. "I will choose partners, but I'm sure the Princess and her guard are already picked." There were a few chuckles, followed by a "oooo" from a few IceWings. The secret IceWing couple managed to keep calm expressions.

All the cadets in the room made their way out the door and to their next class. Talking and the audible sounds of talonsteps filled the air with diverse noises. Celsius walked along Glacier and Ridge, who had most of the same classes as the Princess and her guard. The two males talked while Glacier listened to them.

"Dude, that was pretty cool what you did to Avalanche. It would be nice if you could teach me that," he told Celsius. Before he could respond, Glacier interrupted him and joined in on the conversation.

"It would be nice if I didn't see my only guard getting into fights everyday few days," she told him with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, if they would stop trying to beat me up, then I wouldn't have done it in the first place," he responded. He then felt her tail twine around his. Ridge also saw this, and he smiled at Celsius supportingly.

"I'll catch up with you guys soon," he told the two before running off to another group of friends. Glacier groaned, and Celsius looked at her, alarmed.

"Great, now Ridge is telling Ptarmigan and Iceflow. My friends are going to keep pestering me," she muttered. She looked at the bodyguard. "I'll catch up soon, I gotta talk some sense into them until the details get more 'interesting'." She untwined her tail from his, and he looked over to the direction she was heading, which was the same direction her friends were. Celsius caught Iceflow eyeing him, giving a wink for more than one reason. He shook his head and continued on.

However, he took a left, going down a different hallway and outside the building. Standing near the wall, he grabbed his communication device and turned on the mic. "This is Charlie, contacting Rest Stop." These were code words Frigid forced him to memerize being he got back to the palace the night he was made her guard.

" _Rest Stop is open, what's your report_ ," Frigid response, his voice a little fuzzy from his mic.

"Yesterday was . . . eventful," Celsius began. "I'm alone outside the school, and I don't got much time. The princess took me on a tour around the city, but then she got spooked by something."

" _Spooked?_ "

"Yeah, I know it sounds weird," Celsius agreed, "but it's the only way I can describe it. We spent the rest of the day in the palace, and we um-we uh-how do I say this?"

" _Just speak it out, I won't overreact._ " Celsius knew that was not going to happen.

"We kissed." At first, it was silent. Then, Celsius' ear exploded.

" _YOU WHAT!?_ " He flinched at the volume of his response. " _Okay, I guess there's no way of having a friend type of relationship now. Before you leave, I got orders from the director._ " Celsius listened carefully, surveilling the area around him as he did so. " _Things are looking bad Cel, the kingdom is getting tense. Your new orders are to protect the Princess at all costs. Remember, anyone can be an enemy, this tribe is on the brink of civil war._ "

"Understood Rest Stop, I gotta go, stay alert in case I find anything helpful," Celsius spoke, turning off his comm and mic. He entered the education structure and made his way to his next period class. He entered the room right before the bell ring, beginning the lesson they were going to learn. He took the empty seat next to the Princess, who had a concerned look.

"Where did you go?" She whispered to him. "I told you to get to class. Professor Penguin doesn't like cadets being late to class, especially hers."

"My apologies," he apologized. "I just had to get some fresh air. It was getting dense in the hallway." Glacier nodded, but Celsius noticed that her eyes were not giving off the same expression her face was.

The professor spoke up, stopping their brief conversation. "Hello again, class. Today we're going to explore the different tribes and their traditions, culture, lifestyle, whatever you want to call it." She looked over briefly to the IceWing pair. "For example, the tradition of the Protector," she began, extending arm to reveal the location of the two. "This is a very rare and magnificent occasion, in which the Princess chooses an IceWing that she trusts with her life. I see you got the mark of the Protector, Celsius." The IceWing agent nodded, secretly hoping that she would move on now.

She didn't; instead, she decided to explain all the details. "And class, the IceWing she chooses becomes her mate when she ascends the throne to rule and look after the kingdom." The professor smiled at the couple, followed by more "ooooo"s for the day. Celsius looked over to the Princess, who was trying to hide her blush from her friends. Looking awkward, her friends laughed in response to her flustered form.

He also had eyes on him. It seemed whoever was not looking at Glacier had their gazes directed in his direction. He saw one IceWing mouth "lucky" and turn away, going back to work. _This is not lucky; I'll be getting shot at soon if things are going downhill like Frigid said._ He felt a claw touch his shoulder, and he looked back to see Ridge looking at him, nodding. This confused Celsius as Ridge slumped back into his seat, his eyes giving him a message.

"Moving on," the professor walked back to the front of the classroom. "Today is about the SkyWings and their culture."

One minute into the lesson, Celsius zoned out, thinking about the disaster that was reported to most likely happen. _We can't stop it unless we sever the head from the attacker._ Celsius thought, losing concentration in reality. Before he knew it, the bell rang and IceWings fled out of the room while it was the end of the world. Gathering his books and notes, Celsius caught up with Princess, who was waiting for him.

"We're never going to hear the end of this, are we?" Celsius asked, and Glacier nodded.

 **(* * *)**

 **"** Well, we survived the first day with this new setup," Glacier announced to Celsius. They were walking down the sidewalk, back into the city and palace.

"Hopefully the rest of the week isn't this bad," Celsius told her, and she shook her head at him, as if she was amused with his statement. "What?"

"Do you have any idea how school works?"

"First time in school."

Glacier frowned at him. "Well, you seem to know about a lot of things for not attending a school."

He shrugged. "My uncle taught me with a hands-on experience," he admitted to her, even though it was lie. For Celsius, lying to the Princess for feeling harder to do, even though she trusted him than any other dragon on Pyrrhia. "He would take me to the other kingdoms and show me around."

"Wait . . . you've been to the other kingdoms?" Celsius nodded, and Glacier gasped in surprised. "No way! What were they like?"

"They all their own unique designs, and cultures, but none of their beauty compares to this kingdom and you," he told in a low voice, winking.

"Are you flirting with me?" Glacier already knew the answer to this question. Celsius lightly wrapped a wing around her, and her cheeks began to turn a dark shade of blue. Suddenly, Glacier's phone ringed, and the mood Celsius set was ruined. She brought the mobile device to her ear. "Hello?"

Celsius couldn't hear what was going on, but Glacier hung up after saying "okay" to whoever was on the phone. She looked at the IceWing bodyguard, "we'll continue this secret later, right now, my mother needs us to get to the palace immediately."

He frowned, folding his wing back to his body. Glacier then leaped into the air and flapped her wings, Celsius following close behind her. They flew above the houses of the suburban neighborhoods, both feeling the chilly air currents that breathed on their scales. While Celsius was serious on getting back to the palace, he noticed Glacier being a little more playful; she was doing loops and spins in the air.

"You seem a lot more cheery now," Celsius shouted over the wind. She smiled back at him, swinging her tail side to side joyfully.

"I just feel free up here," she explained to him. "No rules, boundaries, and things to do to fit in with everyone else. It gives me space to breath from the rest of the world." She did a few more tricks in the air before zooming towards their destination.

Celsius let her words sink in, agreeing with her without hesitation. He wanted to get away from problems in life and stress, too. He shook his head, _the world doesn't work like that. We're stuck in reality._ Instead of telling her this, Celsius decided to let her have this. Ever since he got here, her life was being spun around in confusion in chaos. Inside, he felt guilty for doing this to her, mainly because everything started with him.

They arrived at the palace in a matter of minutes, instead of the usual half hour walk they would usually take. She landed at the steps of the palace, and Celsius did the same, but a bit more clumsily. They were heading up the steps to greet the queen.

" _Celsius! There's an assassin 50 feet away to your Northeast!"_ Celsius perked up to the direction where Frigid told him. His eyes met shocked ones, and the IceWing revealed his weapon: a standard M9 pistol and started to point it at his target: the Princess of the IceWings. With unconscious, lightning speed reflexes, Celsius drew his G18 machine pistol. Its shape appeared to him, and he fired three accurate shots in quick succession at the assassin.

 **BAM! BAM! BAM!**

Before he could even aim his weapon at the Princess, Celsius had left three bullets holes: two in the torso and one in the arm. The assassin fell to the ground, his blood covering the icy steps of the palace.

The next thing Celsius did was wrap his wings around Glacier, looking alert for any other IceWing that would pop out and attack. There were screams from the dragons around the two of them, followed by several guards rushing to the body, pointing their weapons at the now dead assassin.

"Are you okay?" Celsius asked the princess, who was having a panic attack from what just happened. She looked at the dead IceWing, then stared into Celsius' eyes with horror and awe.

"H-he-he tried to kill me!? Glacier finally yelled, staying frozen as the palace guards made circle around the couple. They ushered her inside, and Celsius took this as a time to holster his firearm, which turned invisible once again. _Thanks for that, Frigid._ He thought of how his fellow agent was reacting to this.

They were then moved to a secure room with no windows and only one door. The left the room, leaving the two of them alone to comprehend what just happened.

 _We're on the brink of war._ Celsius thought to himself. Once again, he wrapped his wings and arms around Glacier, trying to comfort her. He looked down at her face, which was starting to show tears. Soon enough, the fearless princess broke down into a fit of tears, hugging her protector back with full force like a dragonet.

"It'll be alright," he promised, feeling pity of her. "You'll be fine." The IceWing Agent's eyes darted from each wall of the room, thinking about what he just promised. Seeing how everything happened, Celsius wasn't sure how long he could keep it

"You'll be fine."

 **What a sudden turn of events. Anyways, leave a review of what you think will happen next, and I will see you guys soon.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey readers. Sorry for not publishing new chapters, but I have had some personal things that go on all day. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.**

 **Note: The message in the beginning of the chapter is not to be taken seriously. It is only to set the mood as the story continues.**

 _Greed._

 _A very powerful weapon in the world, if not the most powerful. No amount of military force or powerful a weapon can overcome this simple concept._

 _Greed is something that kills the core of a society or organism from the start. It clouds the mind into doing things that harm themselves or others in the long run. It can ultimately lead to the collapse of a society if he were to be in charge._

 _Freedom would be stripped the citizens. Their lives would only be meaningful to the greedy individual so that he would satisfy his greed with power and wealth._

 _It also causes chaos within society as well. Civil wars have been waged because of the greedy politicians that are known as corrupt by the majority. The leaders and ambassadors of the majority use the very things to keep them safe against the people: the military force to oppress the people._

 _Without taking out the threat of a corrupt leader that wants to overthrow the anarchy, it will ultimately decide the fate of the society if he were to rise in power._

 **Glacier**

Glacier couldn't comprehend what happened. She couldn't feel any of emotions besides fear and confusion. The only thing she did was hold Celsius tightly to her, reassuring herself that everything would be okay.

She never felt this helpless.

Sobbing in her bodyguard's shoulder, she gave many attempts at calming herself down. As she fought a mental war, she felt claws pat her back along with the words: "Everything will be okay."

 _How will everything be okay? Something just tried to kill me!_ She cried a little longer as the thought was implanted into her head. It felt like hours before she managed to calm herself down, sitting down at the table in the middle of the windowless room. It's walls were made of pure metal, designed in everyway to keep the inhabitant safe. Glacier was still breathing heavy, shaky breaths as she felt heard Celsius take a seat beside her. Slowly, she turned head to greet his gaze.

His stare was stern, and what seemed like cold. Even though it had these chilling features, it showed compassion, and even sorrow. The bodyguard did very well at not showing the emotions.

"Glacier?" he asked, and the IceWing Princess still stared into his gaze, speechless. "Glacier."

She snapped out of her trance, before asking the question she felt enter her mind. "How did you see him?"

"Excuse me?"

"T-the assassin," Glacier told him, this time more specifically. She shivered at the dragon who almost killed her. "How did you see him?"

"Quick awareness," he responded almost immediately, startling her. "I was also trained in quick response and reflexes."

"What about the gun? You weren't allowed to carry one?" This question stopped Celsius, and Glacier noticed him catching his breath. "Is there something you're not telling me?" Looking intensely at the Princess, Celsius lowered his arm to his backleg, and grabbing an object on the side. Before Glacier to ask what it was, the object seemed to appear out of the thin air, revealing a pistol in the bodyguard's claw.

"W-wha?" Glacier scrambled away from him. "I-is this magic?! How do you have that!" Celsius quickly saw her distress, and placed the gun quickly on the table, putting his claws up in the air.

"Princess," he started. "I always carry that on me. It was meant for situations like the one that just happened." He slowly walked over to the panicking dragoness, who flinched back at his slow advance. After a few seconds, Glacier stopped her startled motions, before composing herself in front of her personal guard. "That was only used for the protection of you and for civilians that were around."

She paused, eyeing him cautiously. "I see." Walking slowly to Celsius, she stared at him dead in the eye. "And you didn't decide to give me this information before hand?"

"It was better that nobody knew about it," he defended himself, and Glacier found it amusing. "Can you please not warn anybody about this? The less number of dragons that know, the more protected you are from hostiles." He picked up the pistol from the table and attached it to his back leg again.

"Fine, I won't warn anyone, but-"

"Warn anyone about what?"

Both young IceWings jumped at the sudden voice. It was Glacier's mother, the Queen of the IceWings. The Princess and her guard bowed to the higher ranked IceWing, but she dismissed them. Rather than being formal, she ran over and hugged Glacier to the point that her lungs were being crushed.

"Are you okay, my daughter," Glacier saw her mother's eyes, which radiated worry to the young dragoness. She nodded, and the two exchange another hug. Queen Aurora then turned over to the IceWing agent who showed nervousness.

"Thank you, Celsius," the Queen of the IceWings bowed to him, along with the two guards that escorted her into the room. "You have saved the heiress of this Kingdom, and kept Civil War from shattering this region in half." Glacier's personal guard, nodded, before bowing. "I am here to give you the signal that everything is clear, and I want you two stay in Glacier's bedroom for the rest of the day."

The two young IceWings nodded, and the queen turned away, her guards close in tow. Glacier and Celsius followed, before entering the grand palace room. The first thing both of the dragons noticed was that it was empty.

"We have sent everyone but required staff out of the palace for security reasons," Queen Aurora explained. "The servants will have dinner prepared and sent to your room, Glacier." The princess nodded before heading up to the stairs and ultimately to her bedroom. She knew Celsius was close behind her.

"So," Glacier spoke, gazing over at the handsome IceWing. She visibly blushed at the thought of thinking of the word handsome. _Why am I thinking like this in such an anxious and horrifying period?_ "I guess I never thanked you for saving me."

"No worries," Celsius responded, looking into the Princess' gaze. "It's my moral duty to protect the heiress of the Ice Kingdom at all costs."

They continued walking to her bedroom, insighting new conversations as they did so. The princess looked up at all the designs engraved in the ceiling and walls. _I wouldn't be able to see these again if it weren't for Celsius._ She looked back at the bodyguard and wrapped her wings around him.

"Thanks," she whisepred in his ear, and she was surprised when Celsius hugged back.

"No problem," he responses, a small smile visible on his face. Then, Celsius planted a kiss on her snout, and Glacier felt herself with an emotion she didn't express often: happiness. "Let's get to the bedroom before your mother has us watched every second." Glacier chuckled at his statement, then the two of them made their way down the hall, tails twined together.

For whatever reason, Glacier felt herself complete with Celsius by her side.

 **(* * *)**

In Glacier's perspective, she was incredibly bored in her own room. There was little to do besides chat with her personal guard, who was resting right next to her on the bed. Besides that, the television, and it only aired the news IceWings watched; and most of it was covering the assassination attempt that happened in the late afternoon.

There was a light knock on the door, a small enough noise to make disturb Celsius in his sleep. Glacier took this chance to pounce off the mattress and answer. Opening the door, she saw the friendly face greet followed by arms and wings wrapping around her body.

"Are you okay?" Ptarmigan asked, concern laced in her high voice. "Iceflow and I came over as soon as we heard it. What happened . . ." Her words trailed off as she gazed past Glacier and to the one thing the princess knew her friend was looking at. Her eyes were quick to transition over to my gaze, raising an eyebrow at me. "Does he really sleep in here, too?" Glacier nodded, looking away to hide her slight blush. "I thought you forbade males from coming in here."

"Well, things change-wait, did you say Iceflow is here, too?" Ptarmigan nodded, and Glacier groaned.

Somehow by making that noise, Glacier heard the mattress move a little bit. Looking back towards him, she saw his eyes relaxed, but staring straight at our visitor. Well, _visitors._

Glacier was then engulfed in another hug, followed by hearing Iceflow's voice. "Did you get hurt? Wait, he sleeps in here, too."

"I wasn't hurt, Iceflow, and can we move on about this entire body guard thing?"

"I second that," Celsius called over from the bed, lazily getting up. Iceflow frowned at the male, before standing next to Ptarmigan and looking at the theoretically correct couple. "Isn't there anything better to talk about?"

The two female visitors looked at each for a split second. "No," they answered in unison, then Iceflow spoke up, "but we'll discuss that later. Right now, I want to know about everything that happened with the attempt." Glacier shivered at the horrid thought that clouded her mind for the entire day. Celsius was quick to see this hesistation.

"I don't think Glacier wants to recall the moments," Celsius interrupted the three females, grabbing their attention. "But I'll tell you what happened while we keep the princess from having another mental breakdown. No offense, your majesty."

"None taken," Glacier responded, even though she felt a little offended from his phrase "mental breakdown". To her, it made her seem weak and unworthy of leading an entire tribe. On the other side, she knew it was one of few ways to describe her mental state at the time.

Glacier moved back to the bed and laid down, resting her head on her flattened claws. Soon, Celsius was explaining the story: how he saw the assassin, took him out, and escorted the princess to a secure room. He left out the part of having a hidden weapon on his body, but instead announced that he had it in the satchel he wore.

"What happened to the gun?" Iceflow asked, looking at Celsius curiously.

"The guards took it to confirm the weapon was used to kill him," the bodyguard lied to the two. Even though Glacier didn't like it, she knew it was for the safety of her own being. "They're probably going to place the weapon into evidence and I'll never it again."

The two dragonesses nodded, then headed over to the princess. They gazed at her, then at Celsius, then back to her. _Oh ancestors, please help me._ Glacier closed her eyes for one last memory of peace before the questions came down like a blizzard.

"How long have you slept with him?"

"Does he sleep on the bed with you?"

"Have you two have any 'fun', yet?"

"Hold on!" Glacier yelled over them and they went silent, before giggling uncontrollably. "Okay, thank you. Answers are one: none of your business, two: yes, and three: don't ask that question again."

"So you're not denying it," Iceflow concluded, and Glacier panicked at what her friend was thinking.

"What! No! Argh!" The IceWing princess clutched her head in irritation, and her friends laughed. Glacier knew she was blushing fiercely. "We haven't, but I wouldn't ask you that question." Iceflow thought about her response.

"Fair enough."

Looking over on her left, she saw Celsius trying to hide his face from embarrassment. "I thought you were all bravery, my bodyguard!" Glacier teased.

"I'm not an expert in this subject, though," he countered, still hiding his face with his wings. Shaking her head at the male IceWing, Glacier turned back to her friends. They were trying to hold in their laughter. Glaicer rolled her eyes before lying back down, her tail twining with Celsius'.

"I think we should end this discussion," the IceWing princess suggested, but she wasn't looking for confirmation. "What else has been going on besides you two invading my personal life."

"Well, for me," Iceflow began, "Ridge asked me out before this . . . incident happened. We rescheduled for tomorrow, mainly because I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Thanks," Glacier mumbled, her head beginning to pulse in pain. Clutching it lightly, she winced, and the other three noticed it. "I need some rest."

"Okay," Ptarmigan nodded. "We'll see you tomorrow here if you don't show up to classes. Cya, Glacier."

Iceflow walked up to Celsius and gave him a dead stare. "You better protect my friend." Celsius only gave her a nod, which she considered a yes before giving Glacier one last hug. "Cya tomorrow, G."

The two IceWing visitors then left the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Glacier sighed in relief, wanting to be alone for the rest of the night. Placing her head down on one of the many pillows, she closed her eyes. Before she dozed off, she felt a wing cover her body, giving her a hint of protection. She knew she didn't need to be protected, but it was good to have someone watch her back.

And Glacier was glad she was right today.

 **(* * *)**

Glacier woke up to the feeling of something touching her head. What she found was Celsius' own noggin next to hers, and she tried not to yell out in surprise. She knew that they weren't mates, at least for the time being, and it felt awkward being so close to another dragon sleeping.

Celsius woke up at the same time, looking at the princess before moving off the bed to stand next to the door. He was trying to give her privacy, which she was grateful for in the end. Placing a few bracelets on her wrists and two necklaces around her neck, she nodded to her personal guard, and he opened the bedroom door.

"Sorry for being that close to you," Celsius apologized as they passed a servant carrying cleaning supplies.

"Apology accepted," Glacier responded, giving her partner a split second smile. "To be honest, I didn't mind at all. It almost made feel relaxed in a way." The two turned a corner, then headed down to the grand staircase for breakfast.

"And which way would that be?" Celsius asked, getting a faint blush from the princess. "Or is that confidential?"

Glacier pretended to ignore him as they went through the grand palace room, which was still closed to the public. She wondered how long it would be that way; she was liking the quite room. It wasn't long before they were in the kitchen, with IceWings working frantically around the rather large area to prepare dishes for the royal family.

"Ah, the two love dragons." Glacier looked over to her right. It wasn't to her surprise that Narwhal made the statement. He was leaning against the wall with a narwhal in his claws. "I would love to know how you, Glacier, are doing with this arrangement you made. Well, making him your personal bodyguard, and perhaps, your mate for life."

"I am doing rather well," Glacier countered, and Narwhal gave a brief chuckle.

"Excellent!" Glacier's brother pushed himself off the wall, and looked at his meal, before looking back into Glacier's eyes. "I'm glad your safe." He then turned to Celsius. "You have my undenying gratitude, Celsius." The bodyguard nodded, and Narwhal winked before walking out of the kitchen and to moons know where.

"Well . . ." Glacier trailed, still looking after her brother. "That isn't usually like him."

"Maybe he changed because of yesterday," Celsius suggested to princess, and Glacier agreed it was the only logical answer to the mystery.

"Yeah," Glacier mumbled, then continued off to the dining room. Pushing past the kitchen door, she entered the next room to reveal a table with a variety of dishes. "What's all this? I usually have a penguin or something." She looked back to Celsius, who only shrugged.

"Perhaps it's like a 'get well soon' type of breakfast," Celsius thought aloud. "Maybe the queen wants to see you happy."

"Happiness isn't going to keep me from getting shot," Glacier snapped, then felt herself startled at the sudden agression. _Where did that come from._ "Sorry!"

"It's fine," Celsius told her. "Just try to enjoy this, there might never be a time like this again." Glacier was going to ask her bodyguard what he meant by that, but became lost in the amount of food that was set on the table.

Glacier took a seat and grabbed a plate with a baked shark. Celsius just stood to the right of her, out of her peripheral vision. Taking a bite, she closed her eyes, savoring the taste of the delicious meal. _Wish everyday was like this._ She shook that thought from her head. _No need to put fantasies in my head._

Glacier finished her breakfast in fifteen minutes, not wanting to be full and lazy for the rest of the day. She looked at Celsius, but he shook his head. Getting up from the table, she then walked out and back up the stairs to her room. _No assassin is stopping me today._

She entered her room and grabbed her satchel. Glacier knew she had to go to class, but also knew it was going to be dangerous.

 _Well,_ she thought as she heading out the room, again, with Celsius confused on which direction the princess was going.

 _I might as well find out._

 **Hello people. Sorry this chapter ain't out sooner, but there was a tornado that was really close to my house. Thankfully it past without doing any damage to me or the people near me.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story, and get ready for a knew story coming out in a few days.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	17. Chapter 17

**By the time this chapter comes out, I hope you all have a happy Fourth of July. If you don't celebrate it, I hope you have a wonderful day.**

 **Notice: The following message is not to be taken seriously. It is only there to provide a theme for the chapter and the continuing story.**

 _Fear . . . the emotion that has kept our species and all dragons alive from the start. It helps us survive in danger, but sometimes it is also used against us from evil beings._

 _Those who use fear to manipulate the innocent become engrossed with building an evil empire. There harsh punishments and torture keep the civilians and military in line. The keep order within their society, and sometimes punish those when there is no one to punish._

 _The ones that keep from being manipulated are the ones that care for peace, freedom, and happiness for those who are too afraid to fight. They begin to resist, and once it starts, they overthrow the evil mastermind one day or another._

 _The ones who do this show the rest to control their fear, and acknowledge the situation they put themselves in._

 _In the end, they become knowledgeable of who to trust and who to lead them. And when another figure rises like the first, they fight back and restore peace to their society, and the world._

 **Celsius**

"I can't believe it," Glacier huffed as they walked back up the grand staircase. "My mother is keeping me from educating myself. I thought she would want me out of the palace."

"It's been less than a day since the attack," Celsius reminded her, twining his tail with hers as they walked down the ice hallway. "She is trying to secure your future for you. The Queen has guards patrolling every street and building by the hour now. All she is doing what her motherly instincts are telling her."

"And what is that?"

"Protecting you."

Glacier didn't say a word again until they moved inside her bedroom for the fifth time since the attack. She placed her satchel down on the floor, then stretched her wings to get feeling in them again. As she opened them, her wings smacked Celsius in the face hard, and he stumbled back slightly.

Realizing what she did, Glacier folded her wings quickly and ran towards him. "I'm so sorry!" The IceWing Princess grabbed Celsius' claws and gazed at his face, looking for any possible damage. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Celsius responded. "I've been hit harder: I'll live through this." Glacier rolled her eyes in response, but a smile was plnated on her face. "So, what shall we do now?"

"Sleep? Talk? Eat? I don't know," she told him.

He frowned. "Or we can hang out with friends?"

The Princess shrugged, "Okay. What's the worse that can happen?"

 **(* * *)**

Glacier and Celsius spent the whole day discussing assignments and plans for the future days as they waited for classes to be done for the day. Occasionally, to Celsius' surprise, they shared a short kiss. For once in his life, Celsius felt normal and calm without all the chaos.

As he focused back to reality, he noticed Glacier was no longer at his side. He spun his head around to see her gazing out of the massive glass window. The sun reflected the rays of her jewery, making her shape shine brighter. Celsius came up slowly, not wanting to disrupt the moment she seemed to be savoring.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Glacier asked her bodyguard. He nodded, looking about the city and its inhabitants. "I wish there were days like this, always calm and relaxing."

"Agreed," Celsius murmured. They sat there and gazed out for a solid ten minutes. Their trance was only broken by a knock on the bedroom door. The two IceWings turned their heads, focusing their sight on that direction. Celsius was the first to move, making his way to the door and cracking it slightly.

The visitor was Iceflow, then Celsius noticed it was more than just her. It turned out to be small group of cadets Glacier hung out with at school. It was her, Ptarmigan, Ridge, and Reindeer. Celsius frowned, _how will Glacier react to having other males in her bedroom._ He pushed the thought aside and opened the door.

The IceWing Agent turned back to the princess, who's sky blue orbs were now wide in excitement and joy. She hugged her two best friends before welcoming to two new males. As they did this, Celsius began to notice the sun was setting: the night was officially beginning.

"So glad to see your okay, your majesty," Ridge told the Princess with a hint of sarcasm.

"It takes more than a assassin to get to me," she responded, and the group laughed together. "Well, thanks to my trustful bodyguard." Celsius felt a pat on the back. He looked up to see Ridge giving him a smirk, followed by a wink.

"Well," Iceflow began, getting the attention of the other five. "Your mother allowed me, this one time, to bring this." She lifted up the item she was carrying in her claws. It was alcohol, plain and simple.

 _Oh, boy._

"You should try a bottle," Ptarmigan encouraged Glacier, who wrinkled her snout at the beverage. Celsius was also doing the same: NightChaser never allowed him to have anything alcoholic in his life. Celsius was always told that it got dragons into an addiction and bad habits.

"I've never drank anything with alcohol before . . . " She trailed off, reluctantly accepting the gift from her friend. "But, I guess I'll try it this one time."

The two females cheered her on, and Reindeer snatched a bottle out of Iceflow's claw, receiving a playful glare from the IceWing dragoness. They passed around a bottle to each member in the room until they got to Celsius.

"No thanks," Celsius responded to the request Iceflow was giving him through her eyes.

"Don't be a wuss, Celsius," Reindeer told him, then drank the beverage. "I thought you liked risks and fun."

"Well, not when it comes to the safety of the princess," the bodyguard interjected. "I think it's best if I stay sober. There's always a chance she might be in danger." He looked over to Glacier, who seemed nervous about having a drink.

Ridge shrugged, "your call." Twisting the cap off, he raised his bottle in front of the group. "To Friendship."

"To Friendship," everyone toasted with their bottles except Celsius, and the night began. Celsius eyed Glacier as she finally opened the bottle and took a sip.

 _Tonight seems like it's going to be a great one._

 **(* * *)**

It was only a few hours into the night, and Glacier was already drunk. She could barely stay still as the group had conversations of embarrassing stories they told one another. The IceWing Princess had to lean on Iceflow for support, and that dragoness was at the same state as Glacier. Reindeer only had two of the alcoholic drinks, and Ridge was going through his third. Ptarmigan, on the other claw, only had one and was almost as sober as Celsius.

"I haaaave an ideeaa," Iceflow abruptly spoke, but was definitely a drunk slur. "Let's plaaaay Truth or-hic-Dare." She and Glacier giggled uncontrollably at the sudden hiccup. Ridge let out a small chuckle, but the other three only smiled. Ptarmigan leaned to Celsius.

"It's probably best if we do this," she informed the IceWing Agent. "Iceflow might get into a fight if we say no."

"Has that happened before?"

"Ooooh, yeah." The blue striped dragoness let out a half-hearted laugh before returning to her original spot. "So, who wants to go first?"

The was a quick silence, and everyone looked at each other. Unfortunately. Glacier decided to speak up in her drunk state, pointing to Celsius. "Hoooow about Celsiiiius." She barely managed to pronounce his name right, but everyone turned to looked at him. His sighed, closing his eyes.

"Truth," he spoke up, just in case if the dares got into weird territory.

"Which of us threeeee dragonesses is the preeettiest?" She slured, taking another swig of what seemed like her fifth drink. He went silent, looking at the three females in the room. Ptarmigan raised an eyebrow at him while the other two giggled and hiccuped.

"In my opinion," he stated, "I believe Glacier is the most beautiful." Reindeer and Ridge cheered him on while Ptarmigan crossed her arms and shook her head, even though she maintained a smile. Iceflow let out a huff, and Glacier tried to hide her blush, even though Celsius felt his cheeks were radiating his embarrassment.

"Who's next?" Reindeer asked the IceWing bodyguard, and he turned to look at Ridge.

"Fine," Ridge sighed, smiling. "Dare."

"Hmmm," Celsius thought, getting a chuckle from the rest of the group. "I dare you to . . . kiss the dragoness that you like the most."

Ridge shrugged, and scooted over to the dragon across from him: Iceflow. She was about to take another sip from the bottle when Ridge snuck in and plunged his snout onto hers. Iceflow was ataken back from the sudden motion, but closed her eyes and kissed back.

"I've guess they've done this before?" Celsius asked Ptarmigan, who let out a chuckle.

"Yeah! It was the celebration a few weeks back, both were pretty hammered from that night," she responded, flaring her wings out slightly from laughing too hard. The two love dragons stayed like that for a solid minute, and during that minute, Celsius saw Glacier have a sad smile planted on her face. Even though she did it, most dragons wouldn't be able to tell it from a real one. He also noticed it only appeared when Iceflow and Ridge made out, and he frowned. _It might just be the alcohol getting the better of her._

"Okay, done with that," Ridge announced, and the group, except Glacier, laughed. "Okay, Ptarmigan, your turn for embarrassment."

"Fine, and to be fair, you didn't seem embarrassment when you did that," she interjected. "Okay, I choose Truth." Celsius immediately saw the regret in the blue striped dragoness when Ridge began to chuckle. "Oh, dear."

"Hehe, okay Ptarmigan, I'm going to pull a Glacier and ask which dragon you like the most in the entire academy."

Everyone turned their attention to the responder and waited for a reply. Ptarmigan sat there, thinking with a frown on her face. Time seemed to take forever before she answered.

"I'll have to say Reindeer-by a small margin."

Reindeer only wrinkled his snout, giving a smirk. "How small of a margin?" The dragoness replied with using her claws and pressed them together, as if she was trying to pinch the air.

"That much."

There were a few chuckles, followed by Glacier leaning against her bed for support. Celsius caught her trying to open another bottle for the night, but he knew she had enough. Making a small dash, he snatched the beverage from her grasp, and she whined in response.

"C'mon-hic-don't be suuuuuch a buzzkill," she complained, trying to reach for the bottle.

"I don't want to have to explain to the Queen, your mother, that you got hungover on a school night," he countered, even though he already knew that was going to be a problem. He knew not to make things worse by seeing her passed out for the rest of tomorrow.

"That's kind of true," Ridge piped in, putting down his bottle of alcohol. "Hate to be you right now, Celsius."

"Thanks," the IceWing Agent muttered, and now gazed the princess. She was trying to stand indepedent of support, but failed gloriusly with stumbling to the ground, face planting. Iceflow bent over, laughing her voice out as the rest let out chuckles. Celsius only sighed at her clumsiness and arrogance. "Let's try to get you into bed."

"I thiiiiiink your right," Galcier slurred, looking at her right hand dragon. He held out a talon, and Glacier accepted it without hesistation. Pulling her up from the floor, she leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. Unfortunately, the others caught this within a heartbeat.

"Awww, you two looked adorable together," Ptarmigan cooed, and Celsius managed to give her an expression that said "really?" She let out a half-hearted laugh, before moving over to her other female friend to lend her support.

"Let's go, guys," Reindeer told the rest of the group. "I think it's time to call it a night." He picked up the bottles laying or standing on the floor and carried them out of the room.

"Awwwww," Iceflow groaned, "buuuuuut we still have a dozeeeen bottles left. We-hic-also never finished theeeee game."

"We'll finish it some other time," Ridge promised. He turned to Celsius. "See ya later." Still having Glacier leaning against him, he only managed to give a small wave before they moved over to the bed. Laying her slowly, but steadily down onto the soft mattress. The Princess let out a weak smile, before closing her eyes. Celsius then moved to the door and closed it, turning off the lights so Glacier could begin to rest.

"Celsius?" Her voice was soft, but also nervous at the same time. "Can I ask you-hic-something?"

"Of course." Celsius responded, moving over to the bed to lay down with her.

"If I asked youuuuuu the same thing Ptarmigan said tooooo-hic-Ridge, would you have done it?"

 _Oh._ His brain recollected the moment of her sadness when their two friends kissed each other. _So it wasn't just the alcohol. "_ I would've-I mean: Yes, without a doubt." Even though darkness covered the two dragons, Celsius saw her head move in a nodding motion. "Now, I think it's time we got some sleep."

"Agreed," Glacier sighed, and with that, the night went silent, and they both fell asleep, both dreaming peacefully.

 **(* * *)**

 _Celsius was not having a peacful dream. Rather, it was one that fulfilled his worst nightmares._

 _IceWings were fighting each other on the streets, building crumbled, becoming debris for the victims near and under it's structure. Bodies lay on the ground, unmoving and lifeless._

 _They were in a civil war._

 _"Celsius." He heard familiar voice croack his name, and he looked around. Soon, he caught the sight of an IceWing hovering in the sky, the jewelry from her wrists and neck bounced from her scales. The dragon was Glacier, and she was covered with bruises, scratches, and cuts. Dried blood covered her dirty scales, her limbs were limp from exhaustion. "Celsius."_

 _It took him a moment to realise she was screaming at him. Her gaze was a cross from fear and anger, confusion and betrayal. She landed on the ground, and looked at him with the emotion he never seen her have._

 _Rage._

 _"Why didn't you stop them!" She shrieked at the IceWing Agent. "Why didn't you tell me, the queen, or anyone else! Why!"_

 _"Wha-I don't," he looked around at the chaos ensuing around him. He caught a glimpse of a IceWing soldier impaling another with a spear. Another one shot a rifle through two of his enemies, bloody holes forming on their backs. He turned back to the princess, but she was there anymore. In her place was an masked IceWing, holding a pistol at his temple._

 _And he pulled the trigger._

Celsius shot up, grabbing his pistol and aiming it at no one in particular. Gasping for breath from the horrifying dream, he sheathed his gun after seeing no visible threat. Then, he looked down at the IceWing princess, who seemed to be passed out from the night before. Sighing, he laid back down, feeling Glacier's tail twined around his. He didn't remember when it happened, but didn't protest either.

 _It was just a nightmare._ Even though he told himself this, he couldn't but help feeling the reality of the situation. _Will that happen if I fail?_ He shook his head: he would _not_ fail.

He felt and heard Glacier's movements. Looking down at his friend, he noticed the princess grasping her head before breathing in sharply.

"Ow. Ow, ow, ow, my head," she clutched, squeezing her eyes shut. Celsius wrapped a wing around her, and she responded to his touch by leaning her head lightly against her shoulder. "What happend last night? Why does my head hurt so bad. Ow!"

"You got drunk," he stated bluntly, and Glacier raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really?"

Celsius nodded, "I can confirm it with the four other dragons that were in here last night." She sighed, before laying back down on the bed. For the second time, Celsius saw her face become saddening, but only for a split second. "Anything you want to tell me?"

"What?"

"Glacier," he started. "Remember when we said we'd be honest with each other?" She nodded immediately. "Then I want to ask you something?"

"What would that be?"

He grabbed her claws and held them close to his chest. "You've looked depressed, sad, whatever you want to call it. I just want to know why?"

She averted her gaze from his, and curled her tail back to her body. "Well, it's just I've been thinking about our new relationship." Celsius nodded, waiting for her to continue. "I find it stupid that we have to hide it so we don't get labeled at the academy or anything."

"Why do you care about what the other IceWings say? Your Princess Glacier: the freaking daughter of the Queen," he informed her as if she didn't know it. "Whatever they say about you won't change the fact that you will lead this tribe one day. Screw what they say. Your strong enough to not go by the stupid system implemented."

She nodded, smiling at him. "That was some speech, especially from a bodyguard."

Celsius chuckled. "I do my job the best I can." Then, he was met with a kiss from the Princess. They pulled apart after a few seconds, but he knew to savor the moment.

It gave him something worth fighting for.

 **Hello people, and happy AMERICA DAY! If you don't celebrate July 4th, then have a good day and rest of the summer. Anyways, I promised to get this chapter out today, and I delivered. Now, time to start writing the other story.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello people, I am going to have this chapter uploaded by 8 P.M. Central Time. If you read this, I had a long day today in a cramped car.**

 **Note: The message in the beginning is not to be taken serious. It is only to set the mood to the chapter and the ongoing story.**

 _Independence: something that every dragon craves. It is something that keeps the dragon happy throughout their life. It gives them the freedom to express their thoughts, and to demote the ones that want to harm him or the innocent._

 _Independence can mean many things, but to a society, it means to be free from corruption and oppression from the very thing that was born to lead them: their anarchy._

 _If the wrong dragon gets into a position of power, they will be able to strip their citizens from the freedom they vowed to protect. If regulations are set up to oppress a certain group of dragons, innocent or not, then freedom becomes non-existent._

 _However, the ones who have freedom can escape the oppression they face, or fight me to take it back. If they do this, then the oppressor will do everything in its power to brainwash the innocent until they get that leader's truth: that they are radicals, and they should be killed for the belief of freedom._

 **Glacier**

Glacier was in a lot of pain. Her head felt like it was being smashed with hammers every second. Clutching it, she groaned in pain and lied back down on the bed she awoke from previously. Celsius looked down at her, a concerned expression enveloping his face. The IceWing Princess felt his tail twine with her's, and she responded to his action with a weak smile.

"You need some more rest," Celsius told her, and she snorted.

"Over my dead body," she interjected, then felt a massive wave of sharp pain invading her brain. She let out a groan, before sighing. "Fine," she growled, "but just this once. Besides, your going to keep me company." She positioned her body to where her underside was facing up. Resting her forearms and legs on the chill bed, she stared at the ceiling for a long moment. "What happened last night, again?"

"You got flat out drunk," Celsius told her, lying down next to her.

"How drunk?"

He shrugged, smirking at her. "You could barely stand up on your own. You had to rely on your big, strong guard to get around." He over exaggerated, flexing his arms at her. In response, she couldn't help but giggle, whacking him with her tail. "Ow!"

"Don't go all heroic and egotistical on me," she laughed, snuggling in with her bodyguard.

"By apologies, your majesty," he sarcastically told her. "It will not happen again." Once again, they twined tails and looked up at the ceiling together. The princess closed her eyes, thinking about the various things that could've happened in the past forty-eight hours. Her mind immediately went back to the assassination attempt. She shuddered, physical shaking the bed and the dragon next to her.

"You alright?" Celsius asked her, and she nodded. Glacier was too deep in thought to give a verbal response, but rather let her expressions show her concerns. Celsius looked into her eyes, before scooting closer to her. "Listen, Glacier, there wasn't much any of us could do about that event. The good thing that came out of it was your safety."

"How did you feel when you shot the assassin?" Glacier asked, looking into Celsius's gaze.

He sighed. "For a moment, you feel guilty or sick: the fact that you took a life can do that. But . . . " he trailed off, looking distant for a moment. ". . . then you remember the reasons why you did it. The reasoning keeps the action justified, sometimes, and kind of fixes your conscious."

"Do ever forget a moment like that?" She gestured to his leg, which the gun resided at. He looked down at the spot she pointed to.

"No . . . it's close to impossible to ever forget a moment like that." He averted his gaze, but Glacier saw a certain look she never saw from him: familiarity. It looked as if he was familiar with this action. But this is the first dragon he's killed, isn't it? She became skeptic, but decided to not worry about it.

As they lay there, side by side, Glacier could see her scales reflecting off the sun's rays. When she over to view the scales of Celsius, they didn't react the same way. They had a dull look to them, and Glacier frowned at it. "We need to polish your scales up."

"What?" The IceWing guard looked at her confused. She smirked at his confusion, before getting off the bed and moving towards the window. "Wait-where are you going?"

"For a little flight," she responded, stretching her wings.

"You still got to recover from the hangover!"

"A little headache isn't going to stop me from doing my daily tasks," she informed him. "Besides, I need to freshen up the scales." She opened the curtains, revealing the panes of reinforced glass. She flicked the window lock opened. Pulling the window open, she looked back at the IceWing guard, winking at him. He was getting off the bed when she jumped from the window, extending her wings. They caught the icy wing, lifting her up into the sky. "I thought my fearless bodyguard was up to anything!"

"I am if you inform me! Otherwise, it's called blind chance and risk!" She laughed as she watched Celsius scramble after her, beating his wings as fast as possible. "Wait up!"

"A good soldier can adapt to any situation!" She remarked, remembering the quote in combat class. "Is this job too hard for you!"

He didn't give a verbal response, but only scowled at her. "Your mother would not approve of this!" His voice was barely audible over the sharp calls of the wind. "Just to let you know, I am not responsible if we're caught!"

"Why do you think I went out that window?" she asked him rhetorically, and he gave no response. "We're fine, mother doesn't send a guard up until noon. We'll be back before she realizes we even left in the first place."

Celsius huffed. "I hope you're right."

The two continued to fly for five more minutes. Soon, Glacier made it to her destination: a lake in the middle of nowhere. Landing on the shore, she looked down into the crystal clear water, noting ice didn't form, yet.

Celsius walked up next to her, giving a nervous look to the princess. "So, how are you going to refresh yourself, just dive in?" He joked about the last part, but his smile vanished once he saw Glacier's expression. "You're going into the frozen water!?"

She scowled at her bodyguard, before lightly whacking him with her wing. "How else am I suppose to clean myself? Just stare at the water and wait?" He shrugged, and Glacier shook her head at the other IceWing. After a few moments, she took off into the sky, giving herself distance from the lake. "Watch and learn, wussy!" She thought she heard him respond, but it was cut out by the whistling of the air around her as she fell towards the body of water. She smiled as the cool air rubbed against her scales.

It felt like a split second, but she finally hit the water, head first with an aerodynamic approach. The freezing cold liquid encased her. She swung her hips and tail side-to-side to move through the water. Even though it was only a few seconds in the water, she felt cleansed and refreshed from her aching head and body.

Soon, she was out of the water, and back in the sky. Celsius was sitting there, watching her as Glacier moved through the sky, feeling the air more chilly than it was before. The princess looked down at her bodyguard, who gazed at her with awe. Landing beside him, he seemed to be entranced, his mouth agape.

"Hello? Pyrrhia to Celsius, you there?" He shook his head, before coming back to reality. However, his eyes showed the same as before. "So, how do I look now?" Glacier looked down at her shimmering, polished looking scales, then back up to her guard

"Youlooklikeanangel," he mumbled. Glacier looked at him confused, not understanding a word he said.

"What?"

"I said 'you look like an angel'," he repeated, looking away with embarrassment. "A ferocious one at that." For some reason, this compliment towards seemed more genuine than any other. She felt her cheeks heat up.

"Thanks, I guess," she managed to get out. "Is there anything else you want to add before we go?"

"Yeah," Celsius responded. Then, he grabbed her claws and pulled the princess towards him. It was in one swift motion that he placed his snout in hers. For a few seconds, Glacier had her eyes wide open in shock. She always blushing furiously from her action. He swung her around when he did this, having Glacier closer to the ground with him above. The continued to this long, passionate kiss for half a minute, then separated.

Glacier looked at Celsius, who gave her a wide smile. Still flustered from his action, she slapped him with her tail, _hard_. He let out a grunt, staggering back slightly.

"Ow! What was that for! Wait, I guess that's the penalty for kissing someone as beautiful as you." The last part was a joke, which Glacier _almost_ laughed at.

She scowled down at her bodyguard. "That was for doing so without my permission." He tried to think of a response, but went silent. He shrugged and looked to the ground, collecting some snow and rubbing his forearms with it. Then, he took off up into the sky before going into a dive seconds later. Glacier watched as he submerged into the water, losing Celsius in her view.

Celsius quickly came back into view, resurfacing he water shot in all directions. Glacier quickly backed away from the shore to avoid being rinsed again. Her bodyguard smirked, and the princess smiled mischievously at him.

"It feels a lot colder now," he started, "so, do you want to head back to the palace no or-" He was cut off as Glacier then planted her lips onto his, pulling a move directly from Celsius' playbook. "Hmph." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she deepened the kiss. Glacier couldn't help but wonder why she was doing such a thing, but ignored her thoughts: it felt amazing doing this. Instead of ending it short, Glacier lengthened the kiss, and it didn't seem to bother her bodyguard.

Glacier didn't know what happened to her, but she pushed Celsius to the ground, both them still in a lip lock. This caught Celsius off-guard as he hit the ground with a soft groan.

It felt like forever when she finally decided to pull away from him, smirking at the male IceWing. "Do I get an explanation for that one?" Celsius asked, and Glacier just grinned at him.

"Rule number three is IceWing warfare: always ambush the enemy," she stated, before launching herself into the sky. She couldn't wipe off the toothy grin from her face, but she didn't care: Glacier was in a blissful mood.

Looking back, she saw Celsius' stunned and confused state. Letting out a loud laugh, she flapped her wings until she was speeding past the landscape.

 **(* * *)**

Glacier saw the window still open, and she began to slow down on her arrival. Soon, she was hovering in place, her scales gleaming off the rays of the sun. She looked back to Celsius who had a similar look, and gave him a smile. He blushed at her smile, most likely remembering the little 'moment' they had some minutes back.

She then popped through the window and landed, but her heart skipped a beat when she saw a certain dragon standing in front of her doorway. Celsius entered with her and saw the same dragon, before cringing back at her menacing look.

Queen Aurora of the IceWings was glaring down at the two IceWing cadets. Two of the elite guards stood by her side, giving no expression as they stood at attention. "What. Were. You. Thinking!" Aurora growled at her daughter, who looked down. "Do you realize what you did when you left!"

Glacier shook her head, but already knew the answer.

She moved towards the couple, her jewelry rattling against her chest as she looked down at her daughter. "Trust me, I want you to be back out in the kingdom doing what you love. However, ever since these attacks on your life, it's not possible to do so without proper protection." She looked at Glacier's bodyguard, who looked down sheepishly. "No offense, young Celsius, but a moderate security detail is regulated in this tense times.

"None taken, your majesty," Celsius responded, bowing in respect for the higher ranked IceWing.

Aurora looked back at her daughter. "You put the future of this kingdom at risk, my daughter. If something were to happen to you, then chaos would ensue after the end of my reign. Corrupted and evil dragons, Tundra is a moderated example, would only do it for the power. . ." The IceWing Queen kept pestering Glacier with disappointment. Even though Glacier knew she was right, she couldn't help but feel anger flow through her veins.

Suddenly, she felt her mind snap with fury. "Stop it!" The room looked silent as the guards jumped slightly to her reaction. Celsius also gave a similar reaction, startled by her sudden outburst. Glacier flared his wings up, making her almost a similar size to her mother. "Stop treating me like I'm a helpless hatchling! I don't need a security detail: all I need is a pair of eyes to watch my back!" She felt herself gesture to her bodyguard.

"I never asked to be killed! Or for it to be attempted in that matter!" She let out a loud huff before continuing. "From now on, stop forcing me to stay put! I am strong enough to take care of myself!"

Her mother scowled at her daughter's disrespect to her, but Glacier didn't care. The only thing in her blood was rage, and she could barely think of the joyous event she had with Celsius earlier in the morning. Glacier gestured her bodyguard to follow her, then moved past her mother and out of the door.

Her pace was quick, already being at the grand staircase within a minute of the huge landscape. She could hear Celsius' behind her, and she looked back. He was almost jogging to keep up with the princess at her pace. Soon, they were side by side as Celsius surveyed the area.

Finally, Glacier couldn't keep her thoughts to herself. "Why can't she ever say anything besides 'what is wrong with you' or 'are you okay?' It's already hard enough trying to stay the perfect daughter!"

"She's just trying to prepare you to lead," Celsius tried to explain to her. "Just remember to cherish these moments with your mother. She may be gone faster than you think." She wanted to yell at the bodyguard, but she knew Celsius was right. Twining her tail with his, she felt his wing wrap over her. Glacier sighed, rethinking the decision she made with snapping back at the Queen of the IceWings.

"I wonder how much trouble I'm in now," Glacier pondered aloud, seeing two IceWing diplomats stroll by. They respectfully bowed to her authority before moving on, discussing some topic she had no interest in.

Celsius shrugged, "I think you may need to cool down, just for a bit at least."

"You're right, I think that's for the best." With that, the two moved out of the palace building and down the front steps. Taking a right, they entered the courtyard, which was the place where the rankings of the IceWing cadets were posted. Glacier examined it, seeing her name placed at the top. As she looked down, she found her bodyguard's name just inside the first circle, which contained about 500 IceWing cadets.

"How did you move up the rankings so quickly," Glacier asked Celsius, who was eager to explain.

"Since I became your bodyguard, the education and ranking board decided to allow me within the first circle. Well that and the fact we might become mates in the future," he explained, hesitating at the last part. "They said it was only reasonable to do so."

"I see." The princess continued to gaze at the rankings, before looking up in the sky. The sun has vanished from the stormy grey clouds. The grey shapes began to set a light snow fall. "Shit, a blizzard is moving through. Classes are scheduled to be postponed until then."

"How long do you think until it hits?" Celsius asked curiously, looking up into the sky.

"From the amount of snow beginning to fall measured by the wind," she started, lifting a claw up into the air. Feeling the chill breeze flow around her scales, she brought it back to the ground. "I would say about two hours."

"Okay, get your phone out," Celsius said in more of a commanding way. Glacier heard his dominate sounding voice, then narrowed his eyes at him.

"Excuse me?"

"No! No, no, I meant so we could contact your friends. To hangout at the palace before the storm sets in."

"Oh!" Glacier looked way, embarrassed at what she was thinking. "Right, I'll just do this . . ." Taking out her phone from the satchel. As she took out the device, she wondered when she brought her bag along with her, but shook the thought away.

After a few minutes of hassling and loud conversation, Glacier was finally able to contact her friends. The IceWing princess felt herself act in a respectful mood as she did this. Feeling a twinge of pride, she began walking back towards the palace entrance, Celsius right beside her.

 _It's time to do things my way_ , she thought, entering the building. _Our kingdom will have to evolve for the better_.

 _So why not begin things now?_

 **Hello people, glad to see you made it through this chapter. Sorry if the end of the chapter feels rushed: I'm pretty tired and won't have time to fix it tomorrow. VERY BUSY FOR THE NEXT SIX DAYS.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story and see you later.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello readers! Hoping you have a wonderful summer! Sorry for not updating, and I will do my best to keep updating stories.**

 **Note: The message about to be displayed is not to be taken seriously. It is only for the forgoing plot and story to be unfolded.**

 _Skepticism is shown out of curiousity and fear: one is good, the other is not._

 _When you are curious about something, you become skeptic at what you think about. You wonder if something is done one way or the other. It is both minor and major, depending the situation._

 _To be skeptic out of fear is not. To be fearful of people around you, it must mean you are afraid of something happening to you. It has shown that the most common experience are the evil avoiding authority, or people afraid to lose the power they gained._

 _Skepticism cannot be found in a trustful person, but rather the traitorous. The traitor will always become paranoid, inevitably ending his life by his own hand._

 _Even though this is true throughout history, there are times to where the good fear for the innocent. They do everything they can to protect those from harm's way. The ones who did this out of protection and care, are the warriors of the world._

 _Skepticism is formed by the coward for the evil reasons, but formed by the protector of the good._

 **Celsius**

The snow flew around in a flurry of anger, and hail pelted the windows and walls like angry bees. Winds whirled ferociously in their domain, but were harmless to those safely inside. Celsius watched as the horrific weather unfolded, observing the outside as the storm tried to dominate the civilization below it. The only thing the IceWing did was watch, showing no emotion the blizzard went on. The occasional flash of lightning brightened the sky, but there was nothing to see.

Celsius peeked over to the dragon next to him, and he heard her sigh.

"I can guess that this is an occasion?" Celsius asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Moons, I forgot that you're still new to the kingdom," Glacier responded, looking at the rings on her talons. Inspecting them, she gave a look of satisfaction before staring out the window, too. "The others should be here soon." The agent nodded, still observing the stormy grey sky and furius white snow.

Glacier left his side, and he turned to watch her go and rest of her bed. He also noticed where her gaze was at: a bottle of wine neatly placed on her drawer. "I don't think you should touch that, yet."

She snorted. "I'm going to be opening that soon if they don't arrive." She reached for the bottle, but Celsius snatched it from her grasp. The IceWing princess scowled at him. "Seriously?"

"Your mother said it is only for when your friends get here," he told her sternly, and she huffed, landing her head on the pillows. "I don't think enraging the queen is on your to do list right now." There was a moment of silence.

"Fine," she growled lowly, "only because I don't want my mother catching me." Celsius walked to the bed and laid down beside her. He snuggled in next to her, and she did the same. "Sometimes I wish you went my personal guard, you know that?" He let out a laugh and Glacier followed with a chuckle.

"I would be surprised if you didn't," Celsius responded after calming down. "But, of course, who would want to deny this masculine warrior." He was lightly hit in the head by Glacier's tail. Looking over, he saw the IceWing Princess blush.

"Well . . ." Glacier trailed off, thinking of a response to his statement. Giving her a cheeky grin, Celsius his wings around her and nudged her head with his own. Resulting in giggles, he continued his little show. They did this for a minute, and the two eventually calmed down. "What was that all about?"

Celsius shrugged, placing a small kiss on her cheek, almost like a peck. "I just wanted to see your reaction. By the looks of it, it seemed like you enjoyed it." Then, there was a sharp whistle from the wind outside. The two turned their heads at the window, inspecting the storm. "It also seems like that is getting worse."

"Well, that's about normal for the yearly blizzard," Glacier infromed him, and Celsius frowned.

"That's normal."

Glacier nodded before laying on the bed, her head against his body. Celsius also lay down, resting his head next to hers. The sat there, the room quiet with the occasion whistle from the storm. To the IceWing agent, it seemed to be the most peaceful thing that he ever experienced.

"May his majesty approve of her guard going to the facilities?" Celsius asked the IceWing princess with his most formal voice.

"Shut up." Glacier replied softly. "Permission granted."

He let out a low chuckle, opening the bedroom door and moving out of the room. He was immediately met with two guards standing outside of the room at attention. One of the guards nodded to him, and Celsius nodded back. The IceWing made his way down the hall, turning to his left at the end. There was no one down the corridor, which the agent found odd. Looking around, he turned into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Looking under the stalls, he verified he was alone, and he took out his mic and comm piece. "Rest Stop, you there?"

 _"Finally! So what do you have to report, besides the blizzard."_ The tone in Frigid's voice suggested that he was getting bored with this job. _"You two do anything intimate."_

"Shut up," Celsius told, feeling the blush form on his cheeks. "Just know all we doing is cuddling, end of story."

 _"Okay, jeez. Sorry Mr. Secret Agent."_

"Even though there can't be any external threats, I'm still worried about any moles within the IceWing guard at the palace." He whispered to him, in case of any eavesdroppers. "I'm risking the safety of the princess talking to you."

 _"I know, it's just I've love contact with one of spies within the Queen's circle. We've got another guy on the inside, but one of our main informants hasn't been heard in days."_

"Do you think he was compromised?" Celsius already knew that was the possibility, but decided to not say anymore. There was a moment of silence, then his partner spoke up.

 _"I've gotten reports that he was from the others, except it wasn't by the queen or her informants. Most of them said it was by the radicals. Our missing informant has light blue scales, dark blue eyes, and white scales dotting his snout and wings. Report in if you see him. Now, we gotta cut connection."_

The next thing Celsius heard was static. Pulling the earpiece from his ear, he placed the two small devices in his invisibl leg band, conecealing them. He frowned, turning on the water to give the illusion he was doing something. Turning it off seconds later, Celsius unlocked the door and went out.

The IceWing agent got back to the room in no time. Instead of the princess on the bed, relaxing, the entourage showed up while he was gone. Ridge grinned at him, and Glacier's two female friends gave him concerning looks. Reindeer was already trying to get drunk; he was chugging a bottle of beer.

Celsius just stared; there was no point in making a conversation. It was either get humiliated by the two dragonesses, or just watch Reindeer try to get drunk as fast as possible. Looking back to Iceflow and Ptarmagin, he saw that Glacier was already drinking the clear beverage, straight from the bottle at that.

"Are you going to share?" Iceflow suddenly asked. Glacier shook her head in response, earning a scowl from her friend. "Don't you know that sharing is caring."

The princess took another sip of the alcohal. "Yes, but that doesn't I mean I need to share with you." She then took a giant swig, taking a good amount of wine with her.

"So? Do we want to continue our little Truth-or-Dare game?" Ptarmagin announced to the others. Ridge, Glacier, and Reindeer nodded their heads in approval. Iceflow was giving a thumbs up. Celsius didn't respond, he just stood there and waited to get on with the game. There was a sudden knock on the door. Celsius sighed and answered the door, only to be met with a very polished looking IceWing.

"Celsius, Personal Guard of the Heiress, you have been requested to the Queen immediately for a private meeting."

"What?" The IceWing agent raised an eyebrow at him, but he felt so much more on the inside. His heart started beating a little faster than before. _Have I been compromised?_ His heart jumped a little to Glacier's touch, who looked at the visitor cautiously.

"Am I allowed to join in this private meeting?" The princess asked, but it sounded more of like a demand. The IceWing shot his eyes to Celsius, then to Glacier, and then back.

"I'm afraid not, your majesty," he answered in a respectful bow. "The queen would not specify, but it was urgent." There was a moment as Celsius looked down to the IceWing princess.

Soon, she huffed, walking away from the door. "Tell my mother no more than an hour, we have a party going on. It would be a shame if he missed it." Even though we wasn't looking in her general direction, Celsius swore she saw her wiggle her tail towards him. He decided not to respond, just in case it was a figment of his imagination. The IceWing with polished scales closed the doors behind him, leaving the two guards to stand at their posts.

"This way, sir," he told the younger IceWing politely. They moved down the hall and went down the main staircase. Suddenly, the IceWing took a turn that was in the opposite direction of the throne room. _Something's up?_ Prepared for a bad situation, Celsius was led into a small walk in closet. "Close that door, would ya?" His voice became much less formal, and he looked at the other dragon.

"Why should I?" Celsius demanded, feeling himself automatically pull out his pistol on the mysterious dragon.

"Because you'll get shot if you don't." It took Celsius a moment to see a gun hidden under the wing of the IceWing. "Don't worry, I'm on your side. Now, put the gun down?" Hesistating, he slowly lowered his pistol before reluctantly placing in back in his leg band. "Okay, short introduction: I am a informant for the agency we both work at."

"You got a name?"

"Best you don't know, that way they can't link us together in a conspiracy." He gestured his claws to come forward. Closing the door behind him, Celsius then did as he asked. "Now, we are in a very bad situation."

 **(* * *)**

"Well, you were right about that being bad," Celsius agreed with him. "So the Queen's circle of advisors is mostly the radicals taking the places of the previous ones."

"Yes, and there trying to eliminate the rest of us as we speak," he said in a low voice. "You know that shooter from not so long ago." Celsius nodded, still recalling the horrifying event. "It was a palace guard that was off duty." The agent took a good time to absorb that.

"This situation is much worse than I thought," Celsius told his friend. "You know the sniper at the celebration?"

"Yes, we never found the shooter. He must be very angry he missed the Queen."

Celsius looked him in the eye. "That was me." Taking out his karambit, he twirled it through his talons. "That guard was an assassin. He had his knife raised up like this." He brought his arm up, showing off the gleaming blade. "And would've stabbed her good in the neck. The injury she could have gotten would have killed her in a few minutes, tops."

"Why didn't I hear about this?" The other IceWing grumbled, and Celsius gave him an apologetic look. "Not you, the agnecy was to inform of that event if done by one of us." They both sat in silence for a solid minute. "Try to have the agency inform me when you find our missing guy. Use I63A as the codename: they'll it's me."

The IceWing, I63A as his only identification, then nodded to Celsius before moving out of the room. With that, he was gone to moon's know where. Celsius was left staring at the open door, but soon moved out of the room, too. Going out into the hallway, Celsius looked around: they were empty. The windows showed nothing but snow and hail pummeling against the palace.

He then went back up the grand staircase and in the hallway. Before he could reach the princess' room, he smelled something from the air that didn't belong in this building.

The smell of rotting flesh.

"That doesn't bring up anything good." The reason he knew of the smell was of all the murder scenes when working out in the field. It felt that almost everyday he would have to encounter the victim who gave such an oder off. He pinched his nose shut; this dragon had a very strong scent, as if he was dead for a long time.

Moving along, he linked the strong, horrible smell to a isolated room. He opened it the room, revealing sanitation objects such as a mop and surface cleaner. This time, the rotten oder smelled worse by tenfold. Looking over to a closet, he opened it, and unfortunately found the source of the smell.

It was a dead IceWing behind a cabinet of cleaning supplies, and it fit the description of what I63A had told him. Grabbing his comm and earpiece once more, Celsius contacted Frigid, who answered almost immediately.

 _"What is it now?"_

"Tell I63A that I found his missing guy," Celsius told his partner.

The was a long pause. _"How do you know about him?"_

"We met a few minutes ago, and he informed me that one of the big informants went missing. Well, unfortunately, I found him." He looked at the corpse, his eyes open in horror and his mouth gagged. There were several slashes on his head, neck, and torso. "He's dead: looks like tortured to death."

 _"Shit, so our main informant is dead. This means were wading deeper into the unknown Celsius. You're going to have to watch your back from now on."_ The mic cut off, and Celsius looked at it for a moment. Putting back to it's previous location, he moved on out of the hallway, and back to Glacier's room.

 _The princess is in even more danger now. That happened inside the palace somewhere._ He was beginning to fear the enemies around him. Looking back, he did not see anyone, but he just felt like he was being watched. Looking at an upcoming window, he moved quickly back to Glacier's room, opening it to reveal the group once more.

They cheered his return, and he got a quick kiss from Glacier as he sat down next to her. They shared a quick smile, then Celsius turned his attention towards the group. Reindeer looked very tired, which seemed to worry Ptarmagin a little bit. Iceflow was drinking wine from a glass, winking at Ridge, who grinned back.

"So! Who wants to go next?" Iceflow asked the group, placing her cup down on the floor. Even though she asked the group, her eyes were already set on the IceWing agent. "Okay, Celsius, truth or dare?"

Celsius stared her down, a small smile forming on his face. "Truth." Iceflow sighed, disappointed with his response. He chuckled, followed by a few laughs from the others.

"Fine. Let me think." There was a moment of nothing, then Iceflow grew a mischevious smile at him. _Uh oh,_ was all Celsius thought before he was hit with the question. "Have you and Glacier had sex."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the princess' face become the color of the deep sea. He closed his eyes, breathing sharply. "No, Iceflow, we have not."

"Tell me the truth."

"I just did."

"I don't think you did."

"Just accept defeat."

Celsius felt his tail twine with Glacier's and he gave her a supporting smile. Resting her head on his shoulder, she whispered to him. "I feel drunk right now." Celsius let out a laugh as Ptarmagin asked Ridge a question. He was too focused on the princess to hear what she dared him to do. "I think I might need to lay down."

"Well, I just got back," Celsius told her, and she shrugged.

"We can catch up once we're alone."

He then rested his head against hers, going back to the game being played. Celsius could tell that Ridge was thinking, due to the crevices on his face. He could hear Ptarmagin snickering, and he looked to the stripped IceWing.

"I would have to say, no. Haven't dated anyone other than 'Mrs. Drinking herself into a hangover' over there." He pointed to Iceflow, who stuck her tounge at him. "Okay, Ptarmagin, truth or dare."

"Dare."

"Since I can't think of anything else," Ridge announced. "Kiss the hottest male in this room."

"Fine," Ptarmagin shot back, and moved over to Celsius. Before realizing what was about to happen, his lips were touched by another dragoness besides Glacier. There was a long moment before she pulled away, smiling cheekily. "There you go, Ridge."

Iceflow was threw a laughing fit while Reindeer huffed in disappointment. Celsius was still stunned by what happened, and Glacier was scowling at her friend.

"Remember," she told Ptarmagin sternly. "That was only for the dare."

Coming out of his shocked state, he looked to Ptarmigan, then to Glacer. Smiling, he turned to the window, looking at the furious storm. _Why can't all nights be like this._

 **Hello readers. Sorry for the long wait on this chapter, too. Just been having a hard time keeping up with typing.**

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 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I will see you soon.**

 **FuRy-Mike**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello readers, sorry got being late to updating this story, once again. Let's get into the chapter. Warning: this chapter has a dark theme, read at your own risk.**

 _Bravery. A term that is overused in today's society._

 _To be brave is to show courage in the face of evil and death. Many are sprayed with the word and acknowledged as heroes. The become the leaders that the civilian follows, just because they are awarded a medal for doing what the word says._

 _However, there is more than what people see in the word bravery. It is not the act of facing evil and death, but the willingness to do so. These individuals who know the true meaning are willing to lay down their own lives for the sake of preservation._

 _Anyone who stands up against the evil for a minute, but does not fight about it gets awarded a hero. The person who fights back against the evil will be awarded a legend. They will become the story that generations look up at for guidance. They will have memorials that stand for their honor, and they will be the very source of what a true leader seeks to be._

 **Glacier**

 _All Glacier could see was a snowy landscape, followed by much more snow falling to the ground. She looked around; there was nothing. The only thing to comfort the princess in her loneliness was a grey sky, white dust, and frozen ground. "Hello?" Glacier frowned at herself._ Are you really expecting someone is going to hear that?

 _As if someone read her mind, the wind started to pick up. The frozen air sliced against her scales. She gritted her teeth, waiting for whatever was about to happen. The wind got faster at a rate beyond natural causes. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and Glacier wailed in pain as her vision went to white. Covering her head, the princss waited for the brightness to fade before opening her eyes. What she saw in front of her was breathtaking_ _._

 _In front of her, a massive IceWing stood in front of her. She had several diamond necklaces rattling down her chest. Her temple was a crown covered in sapphires and diamonds. Her scales were polished like mirrors; Glacier could seen her reflection through them._

 _Glacier gasped at the presence of this magnificient IceWing. She, however, looked down solemnly at her._

 _"Glacier," she ruptured the silence,"heiress of the throne to the IceWing Tribe. I have been watching over you from since your birth."_

 _Glacier took a step away from the bigger dragoness. "Wha-How-Who are you?" Her eyes with fear, knowing she just said the wrong thing. The mysteriously dragon still looked as calm as ever._

 _"Do not fear, young one. I am many things to your tribe," She walked around Glacier slowly. "I was the first of this tribe to walk the continent. I have fought in countless battles against the scavengers for control of this land. And, I am oldest bloodline ancestor. You may not know me, but I know you, dearest."_ _Glacier felt herself beginning to bow to the other dragoness. "There is no need for that, little one."_

 _"How should I address you," Glacier stuttered. Her wings were folded close to her back and her tailed curled. She was trying to be as formal as possible._

 _"You shall address as Queen Ice, or Your Majesty. Now, do you know why I have brought you here?" Glacier shook her head dumbfounded. "Very well." Queen Ice held out a talon and drew an imaginary circle. Instantly, the atmosphere began to change. Matter, itself, seemed to change in front of her very eyes. Within seconds, their surroundings went from barren wasteland to inside the grand lobby of the palace. Queen Ice looked around, and Glacier followed suit before noticing the same storm from when she fell asleep._

 _"Are we in the real palace right now?" Glacier asked, and the elder dragoness shook her head._

 _"No, we are only in the the reality of your mind," she answered. "This palace has changed since I was here."_

 _"Well, it has been 5,000 years since The Scorching."_

 _"That long?"_

 _"Yes, Your Majesty."_

 _She sighed, before her expression turned into solid state. "Listen, young Glacier, I have approached you to give guidance of future paths." Queen Ice snapped her talons, and four clouds appeared. Each one had a different scenario in what seemed like a video form. "The tribe is in grave danger, Glacier. You and that little rascal, Celsius, are the only hope for the future." She then pointed to the first cloud. It gloomed omniously in the dar, open space of the palace._

 _What she saw was horrifying. IceWings were lying in the streets of the city, dead. She even saw the corpse of a small, cut-up dragonet. She held a claw over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. Explosions filled the sky, followed the creaking of buildings and shockwaves of explosions. Screams and cries filled the air, but were soon drowned out the immense gunfire._

 _"What's going on?!" Glacier demanded from the elder. She merely shook her head in grief. "How do we stop this from happening?"_

 _"I cannot intervene, or worse circumstances will be forced upon the tribe. The only thing I can say is that you must stop this before it is too late." She then swiped her talon in the air, bringing the next television cloud into view._

 _It showed of a IceWing wearing what seemed to be blue face-paint. However, Glacier soon realised that it was too dark to be face paint. She let herself throw up, realizing that he was using the blood of the dead. He was standing around the bodies of innocent dragons, he eyes wandering crazily and his mouth smiling hungrily. The streets were covered in fire and debris as IceWings with weapons flowed down the roads. The vision continued as he took a massive gun and pulled down the trigger. Bullet after bullet fired out of the barrel. Screams followed the gun fire, and hand talon never got off the trigger._

 _"Who was that!" Glacier yelled, panicked filling her chest. Queen Ice bowed her dead, shaking it slowly. "Why aren't you saying anything!" She was still silent. The IceWing princess was speechless as the dragon began walking forward: towards the innocent. "How can this be stopped!"_

 _"That is for you to decide, my dear Glacier." She then swiped her talon once again, the next cloud appearing. Flashes of light came out of the cloud, and the image of IceWings came into view. Glacier noticed a white, powdery surface above them and the brown dirt of the continent next to them._

 _"Where are they? These dragon?" Glacier asked, confused by the image. Suddenly, she realized that there were weapons of all sorts lying on the floor and being held. "Are they in a war?" Queen Ice nodded, gazing into the image._

 _"They are in trenches, Glacier," said she in a matter-of-fact tone. "New tactics being brought upon the tribe. From spears and claws we originated to weapons that can shoot deadly projectiles with an effortless squeeze." The sudden sound of gunfire made Glacier flinch, and it appeared the dragons in the image did as well. Glacier looked up at Her Majesty, and she lowered her head, as if greiving. Glacier turned back to the cloud, just in time to hear shouting and yelling as the IceWings started to fire their weapons. However, whatever they were against was too much for them. The IceWing Princess closed her eyes and only heard the sounds of bullets penetrating the fighters' bodies.  
_

 _"Show me the last image of the future." Glacier still had her eyes shut, but opened them once she heard the cloud whirl away. In the image, the only thing she saw was herself. It was a Glacier who was covered in dirt, bruised and scratches up, sitting in a room full of her companions. They all looked at her, desperation pierced through their expressions. She noticed Celsius by her side, and he saw her tail twined with his. She responded by resting her head on his shoulder, and she closed her eyes. Not much later, the sound of an explosion and rumbling alerted the dragons in the room. Celsius immediately responded to the noises with growling and shouted a few words to the remaining IceWings. They nodded, leaving the room with their weapons. "What happens after this?"_

 _Her Majesty gazed solemnly at the princess. "Death, and the end of the Monarchy." The rumbling in the image got louder. Tears were being shed by the dragons in the room, and hushed whispers were spread. Soon, an explosion not far off from the room erupted, and gun fire rang. Before anything else happened, Queen Ice snapped her fingers and the cloud disappeared, as if blown by a wind. "You know see what has to be done, Glacier. If you do not act soon against the enemy of the tribe: it means doom for all."_

 _"Tell me where to start, at least." Glacier begged the dragoness, but she shook her head. "Why won't you help me if you know what's coming?"_

 _"I have already given you everything you need to know, but I cannot risk altering anything for the future. Trust me, young Glacier, if you use your heart as your guide, you will be victorious in the end." The wind from before began to pick up. The banners in the palace began to shake and the dust began to circle her. "Farewell, Princess Glacier of the IceWings. I will you again in a time of peace." Glacier tried to shout, but the sudden brightness of the whirlwind made her gasp and look away. After covering her eyes for a few seconds, she noticed the silence in the atmosphere. She was all alone, and she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders._

 **(*.*.*)**

Glacier gasped as her eyes peeled open, only to be greeted by the darkness of the night. She felt her bed move and looked over to the source of the disturbance. Celsius was sitting there, startled and concerned, staring at the princess. She closed her eyes, going over all the events of the so-called dream she had. Glacier saw the blood-thirsty IceWing, his eyes wide in hunger and rage. She saw the dead, innocent dragons lying on the ground. She could see the despair and desperation of the remaining dragons in the room. She could see herself, weak and helpless as their last moments ended violently.

"Princess," Celsius spoke, interrupting her thoughts. She formed a emotionless face and looked at her guard. "You looked disturbed, has something happened."

"No! No . . ." she cursed herself in her mind. "I'm fine. It was just . . . a nigthmare. There is nothing to worry about." She got off the bed and walked over to her mirror. Taking her earrings off her ears, her thoughts kept wandering the dangerous situation they were in. _Wait, why are my earrings on?_ She realized that she wore her priceless jewelry to sleep in, which was a dumb thing to do. _Doesn't matter know. I got more important things to focus on._ "I'm going to get some fresh air."

Looking over to the open window, she could see the blizzard still going strong. Glacier soon opened the door and moved out of her bedroom, Celsius accompanying her every step of the way. She walked queitly, staring straight ahead. The princess could feel Celsius eyeing her suspiciously, as if she had something to hide.

"Glacier . . ."

"What do you want, Celsius." She growled lightly before regretting to do so. Celsius didn't respond after that, getting the hint.

The hallways were dimly lit. Glacier was thankful that her eyes haven't adjusted yet, so she kept walking until she reached the staircase to the grand lobby. Stepping down each stair, Glacier felt herself sit down at the bottom of the stairs. Celsius repeated her action; the two of them sat side by side. She took a shaky breath, pondering what decisions she could make before the start of a war. She recalled the image of the IceWings in the trenches with some freezing to death.

"I can tell there's something on your mind, Glacier," Celsius spoke up, gazing into her eyes. She looked down momentarily before feeling his tail wrap around hers. "I'm always here if you need to talk to me."

"I do need to talk to someone, Cel," she responded. The bodyguard raised an eyebrow as if he wasn't expecting her initial response. "I had a dream-sort of-with this dragoness called, uh . . ." Glacier froze, deciding not to bring up the royal IceWing. "Well, I forgot her name. Moving on, she showed me visions of bad things, Celsius." Glacier grabbed Celsius' talons and squeeze them. "There's something bad that's coming our way-in the direction of the tribe. She showed me a Civil War."

In that split second, she saw his eyes radiate fear and caution, but it was covered with concern. "Oh?" He said softly. "How are you so certain?" His voice sounded curious, but Glacier felt as if he was hiding something in that question. She decided to wave it off before continuing.

"I just am," Glacier answered, not liking the response. "Well, I'm just-uh-having a hard time explaining it." She looked down as she felt her cheeks warm up. "I know it sounds crazy, but are you believing what I'm saying?" His gaze averted from hers for a moment as he frowned. There was a short silence.

"If you're absolutely certain about it, then I will believe in what you say." This response made her sigh in relief. _He might be the only one to follow me as blind as I am right now._

"Believe in what she says?" The voice in front of them asked. Glacier, startled, jumped a bit from where she sat. Celsius jumped as well, then growled at the source of the intrusion. Glacier glowered at the source; her brother being mischevious once again. "Hey, it's not like I'm going to kill you or anything. So what is Celsius believing?"

 _Shit! Gotta improvise._ "That-uh . . . no other dragoness will get to have Celsius!" She didn't process her words from thought to sound. Immediately, she knew her cheeks were a deep sea blue color.

"Oh really? Like I'm going to believe that!" He grinned smugly at her, and Glacier felt like slapping his snout as hard as she could. However, another idea popped into her head.

"Don't believe me? Okay." Once again, she let her instincts take over. Moments later, her snout was connecting to her bodyguard's. His eyes widened with surprise by her actions and she looked at him with _go along with it_ expression. Seconds later, the two of them disconnected. Glacier looked at her brother, and he responded to that with a shrug.

"Okay," he spoke once more. "Guess I was wrong." With that, he passed the two and walked up the ice stairs. "Have fun explaining your conversation with Mother, though." The two of them watched as he disappeared into the hallway. Glacier and Celsius looked at each other with the bodyguard breaking the silence with a nervous laugh.

"If I'm honest with you, I don't know what kind of improvise that was." Glacier had to agree with him. The two of them let out half-hearted laughs. "So does this mean that that is the Plan A improvise."

"Don't get too excited," Glacier warned her personal guard sarcastically. She sat back down on the ground. Celsius did the same, and she planted a quick kiss on his snout as he did so. "But I'll think about it." Winking at her partner, she laid her head against his shoulder. The storm still erupted from the outside, and they watched the violent snowfall in peace. Minutes passed as they both stayed in place before the silence was broken.

"I need to ask you something, Glacier," Celsius abruptly spoke.

"What is it?"

"When you said you saw what happened in the future. Was I there? In the future . . . or not?"

Glacier stayed silent. "I'm not sure, Celsius," she told him truthfully. "It's all a blur right now, but I remember seeing death and destruction everywhere." He nodded, saying nothing for the remainder of their peaceful blizzard watching. _Do not worry, young Glacier._ Her eyes widened with shock at the voice inside your head. _Let your heart guide you through the difficult time._

Time seemed to pass slowly for Glacier. "Let's go back up to the room so mother doesn't have a heart attack." Celsius chuckled at the statement, nodding in agreement. The two walked up the stairs and through the hallways. For reason she didn't know, the IceWing princess felt no fear. Before, she had fear of what was to come, and how it would destroy her world. She was afraid of taking the responsibility of life and death decisions.

Now, she felt herself break down the obstacles and stand there, unfazed. In her new expression, she felt nervousness, but she couldn't find a drop of fear at all. She felt her stride get confident as she moved into her bedroom. Her thoughts were not clouded and longer by the visions of death and despair. Now, they were filled with ideas and motivation.

Lying onto the bed, she placed her front claws in front of her and stretched on the bed. Laying herself on one side of the bed, she closed her eyes, waiting to plunge into the space where she felt no fear. Taking a deep breath, she let her conscious fade into her dreams, this time, moving into the unknown with courage.

 **Hello reader! Hope you enjoyed the story. Now, I am going to say I will have very little time to update this weekend, but I will do the best I can. I'll you guys in the next chapter soon.**


	21. Chapter 21

**It's been too long. Update: Each chapter is now going to have 4k word average instead of 3k for longer chapters for you to enjoy. This will imply after this chapter (school slowed me down on updating so I wasn't able to write more). Also going to spam chapter of this story fast in order to focus on other stories.**

 _To be humble is also to be moral. The most humble beings do not put themselves first, but do the opposite. They become the one to server the person behind them._

 _The words shows meaning and even the nicest in the world can't hope to live up to it's exact expectations everyday. The humble one will fight, but not for their own benefit. They will fight for the benefit of everyone else, even their enemy. He/She knows that by fighting for moral reasons, for sacrificing themselves so another can live, they reached a kindness that no one could ever meet. In the eyes of the good, that word can change the tides of the world._

The blizzard was finally over, and everyone in the kingdom was overjoyed. Several days passed by when there was nothing but a ferocious mouth of snow and wind that terrorized the IceWings. Forced into their homes, it felt as if the entire kingdom was shut down for a short period of time. After almost a week of boredom and torture, the storm dispersed and eager faces of IceWings began to fill the streets once again. For Celsius, however, it just meant there were going to be more opportunities for the Princess to be assassinated.

Glacier and he were back in the classrooms, and they somehow became even more of an attraction than the last time. Many of their peers looked up at the two and stared for long periods of time. They especially stared at their tails, which were coiled tightly with the other. Some just stared in disbelief: the fact that the once the ice cold Princess became a soft and shy dragoness. Others glared at the two in jealously, and it went towards both partners, too.

"I feel like we've become too much of a hot topic," Celsius whispered to the Princess.

"I would agree with you on this," she responded as they moved into a less crowded hallway. Celsius could hear the murmurs from small groups about them and their relationship. "You know, I think Iceflow has already opened her mouth with new 'information' ever since our celebration."

Celsius nodded in understanding, "so never trust Iceflow to keep a secret."

"Pretty much."

Glacier made her way to the side of the hallway. Approaching one of the lockers, she began to fiddle with the lock. Spinning it left, then right, then left once again, she pushed up on the handle and opened the small compartment. There was almost nothing in the solid blue container besides a pencil and some notebooks. Celsius watched as she grabbed them. Glacier looked back at him before frowning. "You know they're just notebooks, right?"

"You can never be too careful," he said calmly. She just rolled his eyes in response, doing her best to hide a grin. Stuffing the notebooks into her satchel, she nodded to Celsius and began walking through the hall once again. Celsius finally felt the most relaxed he has ever been since arriving into the kingdom. In his mind, however, thoughts tracing back to his real home were still lingering. The building he lived in for several years before sent off to a mission with the highest risk of dying. Even though he felt accepted here, Celsius still felt uneasy about certain dragons: students and adults.

The bodyguard knew very well that a younger dragon could easily be manipulated into living a horrible life and doing the most horrific things. He felt his head beginning to dwindle from the present and into the past. He winced, thinking of what he saw in the room he and Jupiter stormed that night; it would be something that he would never be able to forget.

"You okay?" Glacier's voiced brought him back into the present. His head snapped directly to her gaze, making her jump a little bit. "It looks like you've seen a spirit or something."

"Oh! No, no just . . . recalling things from the past and all," He said truthfully, but didn't want to give in the details.

"I can see that they aren't good memories," Glacier spoke up, moving a bit closer to him. "You can talk to me about them after classes. I've got nothing better to do." Celsius didn't try to reject her offer: he knew it would make things worse for the two, especially for him. All he did was nod in agreement with her suggestion. "Good, let's get to class."

The rest of their trip to the classroom was silent between them. It wasn't the same for everyone else, though. Many of Glacier's friends, almost all of them female, were asking about her health and how she was putting up with her new bodyguard. Celsius couldn't help but feel uncomfortable for two reasons: each of them were getting close to the Princess, and they were asking too many personal questions about their so called "relationship". The bodyguard huffed; he was going to have a chat with Iceflow when he had the time. He was relieved when they finally entered the room, being able to have some peace and quiet. Taking out some homework, Celsius began to work on it.

"Watcha got there," a familiar voice erupted from the silence. Celsius looked to his right to see Ridge sitting next to him. The IceWing was working on homework as well, and it was even the same homework. "I honestly forgot about this until this morning, Cel. No way I'm getting credit for this." Celsius sighed and looked at the clock in the front of the room. He noted that there was still fifteen minutes left before class started.

"Give me two minutes," Celsius told him, "then you can look off mine."

"Really," Ridge said, "you'd do that for me?" Celsius gave him a light nod, not prepared for the slap on the shoulder Ridge gave him. "You are the dragon, Cel! Oh, sorry about that." Celsius gave him a cold stare as he felt the sting on his shoulder wear off. "My bad . . ." Ridge sat in silence until Celsius was ready to hand over his worksheet.

It took a couple of minutes, but Celsius held out his paper towards his classmate. "Here," he said, "make sure that it doesn't look like you copied it." Ridge nodded, grabbing the paper from the air. He began working on the homework, but this time he had help from his friend.

"Thanks," Ridge murmured as he worked. This time, Celsius slapped him on the shoulder. He was his friend wince before looking up at him with a scowl formed on his face. "Was that really neccessary?"

Celsius grinned at him, shrugging. "Seemed fair to me."

"Ha. Ha."

Celsius felt a talon poke him in the side. He swung his head to the opposite side of the room. Glacier was looking at him, and she had a frown on her face. "You do know you can get demoted down to the 4th circle for cheating, right?" Celsius snorted at her rhetoric question. His eyes met hers for a moment, and he frowned back at her.

"Really?"

Glacier gave him a nod, "Yeah, it was some rule that was implemented about two decades back. They say that it was to keep the future of the tribe knowledgeable of the past and present. It's the worse at the graduating year. Everyone who passed it said that they test the cadets of everything they ever learned."

"How far back?"

"Dragonets."

Celsius eyes her suspiciously, but she just shook her head. "I wouldn't believe everything they say," Galcier added. "Upper class IceWings tend to be pranksters on the younger cadets."

Before he knew it, the loud ring of the bell erupted through the hallways and classrooms. The professor, who was at his desk, approached the front of the classroom. He frowned at the cadets running into the room and quickly filling the vacant desks. Celsius grabbed his notebook and flipped it to a random blank page.

"I wouldn't expect half of my class to be late on the first day back," the professor said in disappointment. "The only ones to be here early were Orca, Princess Glacier, Celsius, and Ridge. Moons, almost none of my class was on time." A low murmur of voices went through the crowd. Most of the eyes in the room were directed at Celsius and Glacier, and he wasn't surprised. "Speaking of which, how are you doing, Glacier."

"I'm doing fine Professor Walrus," Glacier said quickly, avoiding eye contact with her teacher and the rest of the room.

"What have you two been doing," Ridge whispered to Celsius, who just gave him a stern look. "I mean, I haven't seen you and Glacier get this much attention."

"Don't ask me; go ask the person who has been trying to kill her for the past few weeks," Celsius whispered back. Ridge went silent, but still kept asking questions through his face. "Not now." He then growled at his classmate, who finally stopped his barrage of weird expressions.

"Ah! Celsius," The professor exclaimed. "I want to give you my thanks for volunteering for being the Princess's personal guard." Celsius gave a small smile. "For you are protecting the future of this kingdom."

 **(* * *)**

They were now sitting on the roof of the academic building. Despite Celsius protesting her safety, her decision to go into the open still stayed the same. Their tails were twined and Celsius had a wing around the Princess, giving the impression that she was safe under his wing.

"Why am I so embarrassed." Glacier suddenly shouted, breaking the thoughtful silence of their lunch break. Celsius looked to her confused. _I thought she didn't care about opinions towards her._

"What do you mean by that?" Celsius asked her. She gave a sigh and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I never you knew you could get embarrassed, just . . . uncomfortable."

"What we did during the blizzard needs to stay a secret," Glacier informed him. "Anyways, it feels as if I'm being judged by everyone, as if trying to pick out any flaws I have. It also doesn't help that they are starting to see me differently, considering my life before you was pretty straightfoward-and cold."

Celsius took a bite out of the dead polar bear. He was silent as he thought about her words. His eyes scanning for any threats, both conspicuous and blatant. "Well, we don't have to act this way. If it's easier on you, we can just go back to being very, very serious."

Glacier shook his head. "That's the problem, I feel-well-afraid of going back to my old life. Now that I've had a little bit of fun the past few weeks, I can't seem to just being boring and scary all the time. Besides, it is fun having a friend around I can chat to." Celsius saw her warm smile appear, but then turned into a scared looked almost as fast. A second later, her face was back to smiling, but Celsius could tell she was trying to force it. He decided to play along, not wanting to ruin this peaceful moment.

"Well, I could say the same," Celsius informed her, and she looked up, her face having a hint of surprise. "I used to be-um, what do call it again? Oh! Socially awkward." There was a pause, but Celsius decided to keep talking. "My life used to be simple and boring, too. Just focused on one thing after another, not having much of a social life." He looked away momentarily. Celsius could feel his cheeks beginning to warm. _Strange._ "Then, I met you-after we got through that bitter part in the beginning."

"You know," Galcier started, brushing her wing over his, "I think that's the first time you've told me something like that."

"I thought I already did something like this," Celsius countered, noticing his cheeks warming up even further.

"Not like this," Glacier spoke up, "You felt more sincere in your voice than the other times. By the way, thanks for listening to my little rant." Celsius hesitated before speaking again.

"No problem."

"Also," she leaned in so her snout was only centimeters from his ear. "You look cute when you blush like that." At that remark, Celsius immediately turned his head away from the princess. She laughed in response to his embarrassment before untwining their tails. "Come on, I bet the bell is going to ring soon." Suddenly, Glacier sprinted off the roof the building and flared her wings open before pushing to help her launch. She was in the sky once again, but now gliding down to the continent. Celsius followed her eagerly, hoping to catch up with the ambitious princess.

Celsius couldn't help but scowl at himself for having his feelings exposed that easily. _You're supposed to look like a rock, Cel. If you told her about you're feelings that easily, then think of what enemies will get when they torture you._ Celsius had to admit that was extreme for him to think. _Relax, Cel, you're protecting a high profile figure that has an elite task force at her disposal. It's alright._

As Glacier entered the buildings, with him in close pursuit, the bell rang. The loud ring signified the end of a good part of a day. A part that let school friends reconnect with each other after embracing a week of freezing hell. The hallways started to become more like a gathering space as groups of cadets had discussions while walking.

Celsius soon met the pace that Glacier was going and they walked together, with him watching out for her safety. The Princess smirked at him. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing," she responded, but her smirk turned into a wide grin. "Just thinking of something."

"I bet you are," he agreed, but his response was pure sarcasm. With his remark, Celsius earned slap in the face that was executed with her tail. "Ow!" Glacier sniggered at him, before composing herself.

"Do not backsass your superior," Glacier informed. She fixed her posture to look professional while she flew past a group of male cadets staring at her. Celsius took a brief glance at the group and continued to follow the princess.

"You know that's an abuse of power, right?" Glacier snorted, then swatted him with her tail once more. Celsius scowled at her briefly, then wrapped a wing around.

"What are you doing!" Glacier whispered harshly at him. Her face transfomed into surprise, and all Celsius wanted to do was take a picture of it. Unfortunately, he didn't have such devices around.

"Payback," he smirked, before kissing her on the cheek. This is what caught Glacier offguard. Many of the other students went silent in surprise. All Glacier did was try to hide her face in her claws, but it didn't at all.

She brought her face up to her bodyguard. "You are not going to have a pleasant night." She hissed, her expression turning murderous. Celsius just grinned in response. "And you will not want to wear that smile again."

"I'll keep that in note."

"Ahem." Their attention went straight as a guard came up to the pair. Celsius noted that he was a Palace Guard, with the crown on his uniform signifying the role. "Queen Aurora has requested for Princess Glacier and her bodyguard back to the palace. Immediately." He also took note of the tone when the guard said the word. To Celsius, he knew whatever news the Queen received was not good.

Somehow, Glacier did not get the hint. "On what reasoning?"

"The orders of the Queen, Princess Glacier. If she said you rejected the request, then the Queen is now ordering you to come back to the palace." The chatter of the hallway went down, followed by the bell; signifying that classes had start once again. Glacier looked over to him, and Celsius nodded to her silent question.

"Very well," she grumbled, and the guard turned around to begin walking out of the building. Glacier sauntered after the guard, and Celsius felt himself spiral into confusion. _What has the queen learned about the radical terrorists?_ A hurricane of questions began pummeling his head, but he ended up forcing them out: there were more important matters to give attention to.

As they walked, Glacier twined her tail with her bodyguard. Celsius went still momentarily, before forcing a calm physique and expression almost immediately. "I got ask you something, Cel. Can I call you, Cel?" Celsius debated internally for a moment.

"Of course, Princess Glacier," he said in a formal manner. She rolled her eyes in response.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you knew anything about this?" Celsius eyed her after she made the statement. "Do you?"

Celsius spoke up, but was interrupted to the guard they met a few minutes ago. "No one knows, your Majesty. She had requested your presence, but never stated a reason." The IceWing bodyguard frowned at the palace guard's explanation. _This is getting scary, definitely going to have to contact Frigid as soon as possible._ It seemed like hours, but they finally found the right exit. As soon as Celsius and Glacier looked to see what was meeting, Celsius felt his heart drop.

Armored vehicles were waiting for them.

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I sincerely apologize for being a month behind. Anyways, before I make a schedule, I want to make things clear.**

 **1\. I have come to see that High School is extremely unexpecting and dumb.**

 **2\. Don't expect a regular publish schedule.**

 **Anyways, I hope you were entertained and I will see you in the next chapter.**


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